A year of wasted  opportunities  in Indo-Pak relations

By Arun Joshi  If 2019 and 2020 , propelled Kashmir to the international narrative  as a place where there were troubles  due to the  abrogation of Article 370   and communication  clampdown , the year 2021 signaled a major shift with reinvocation of the ceasefire on the Line of Control , something that had been ripped apart calm on the dividing line  for the past over a decade . This was the biggest achievement , in line with the legacy of  former Prime Minister  Atal Behari Vajpayee .   This  development , in which the Indian and Pakistani armies vowed to end hostilities on the borderline , was expected to  It happened on February 25  when India and Pakistan armies agrees to work for peace in the region . But, unfortunately , the events that unfolded subsequently during the year, when Pakistan adopted a one step-forward, two step backwards , and finally a complete retreat from the talks,  and grand opportunities to lay a ground for return of peace  were squandered. The February 25, 2021 , renewal of the November 26, 2003  ceasefire agreement – something that Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pervez Musharraf achieved,  to  and an era of hostilities on borders and then extend it to the internal landscape of Jammu and Kashmir , did not pass the test this time . The threads got snapped after a couple of years, particularly owing to the internal troubles in Pakistan in 2007 . The clash between President Musharraf and judiciary created a situation, where a possible Kashmir solution slipped out of hands of the two countries. Now, in the given situation and the political dispensations in Delhi and Islamabad , that kind of  solution has become unthinkable , at least for  the time being. The reiteration of the ceasefire in 2021 was much different  from its original version of 2003 .. In November 2003 the truce  came about as a  consequence  of Vajpayee’s call for friendship with Pakistan  from the soil of Kashmir in April that year. That was amidst the unprecedented international developments , dominated by the US’s war in Iraq and Afghanistan . And  on the Indo-Pak front things had deteriorated a lot  due to a number of unhealthy  events –( a)  Kargil war of 1999 that Pakistan had thrust on India , violating the sanctity of the LoC ,  (b) failure of talks in Agra summit in July 2001, (c) terror attack on the Indian Parliament  in December 2001 , ( d) confrontational mode of the armies on borders  in 2002. The  carbon version of the ceasefire was brought about by  a third party – the UAE . It was hoped that this process would lead to, what the UAE ambassador to the US Yousef Al Otaiba told Hoover Institute , that where “ India and Pakistan might not sort of become  best friends  but at least we want to get it to level where it’s functional , where it is operational , where they are  speaking to each other.” This , fundamentally , indicated that  a new opening was possible  between India and Pakistan  through their mutual friend countries. This should not be viewed as some foreign policy infirmities , after the friendly countries help one another, and it also underscored that it was not intervention or facilitation of the talks for ceasefire on LoC, as also far better relations between Delhi and Islamabad , for any overarching geopolitical strategies that the US and China are playing at the moment to widen their influence . Toward the end of 2021, there is not a happy news. Pakistan has withdrawn from the backchannel talks – NSA  Moeed Yusuf  had declared in April this year, “ talks are off”. To cap it further  with unreasonable conditions , PM Imran Khan said that the talks with  India cannot be held as long as the current political dispensation is there. Hence , yet another year has been wasted and the opportunities that had come in the first quarter of the year have been squandered in the rest of the three quarters. About the Author: Arun Joshi is a senior journalist based in J&K. He has worked with Hindustan Times, Times of India, Indian Express, and The Tribune. He has authored “ Eyewitness Kashmir: Teetering on Nuclear War” and three other books. DISCLAIMER This is the personal opinion of the author. The views expressed in this write up have nothing to do with those of prameyanews.com