Sunday 23 September 2018

Diplomatic row with India

Diplomacy is a hot subject in Pakistan thesedays. And ongoing diplomatic row between FOs of Pakistan and India has further spiced up the whole scenario.
Few positives of foreign ministry to include newly elected PM's symbolic first visit to FO. Second is proactive diplomacy; since we have a Foreign Minister now who seems busy as bee on foreign affairs of Pakistan. FM SMQ wasted no time in factually correcting US State department's statement in the backdrop of Imran-Pompeo phone call. Lastly, it was brilliant to write letter to Indian PM Modi for diplomatic engagement. Indian nervousness was vivid on initially agreeing & then disagreeing to meet on pretext of lame excuses like dak tickets & imaginary killing of some ghost soldiers in IHK. It is very easy for India to manipulate the information relating IHK for its strict control on local, international media & internet. For Pakistan, its a moral binding to standby Kashmiri brethren & expose Indian atrocities. For India, sky is the limit; kill, pelt, pallet, shoot, repress & rape; let no credible information go out of the Valley and continue to fix baseless blame on Pakistan. As if their fictitious surgical strikes were not enough a hoax, they intend celebrating 'surtrikoversary'. And to top it all, General Bipin Rawat believes 'it is time'.
Now lets break it down to understandable pieces.
Good that out of all ministeries, PM made his first pit stop at Foreign Ministry. Diplomacy is antidote to friction & feuds between nations. Making a dormant ministry active does not require creating friction on petty issues. So Shah Sahab might want to take it easy & keep it proactive not reactive or over-active. Correcting factually incorrect statements of 'apparently friendly country' could have been handled better.
Making India jittery through PM's letter to his Indian counterpart served the purpose well. But it must be said that Indian FO played below belt by singling out IK in its statement rescinding respective FMs' moot during current UN General Assembly session. However, even bigger mistake was PM's Tweet on 'small men in big offices'. Chai Wala is a small man and there is no dispute on this even in greater part of India & across the globe. Our FO could have issued a 'tit for tat' statement or any big mouth from ruling party could have done the same. Talking of Big Mouth, none other fit the description better than our Information Minister both in literal & figurative sense. PM responding under TTS ('Trump Tweeting Syndrome' ) was like playing right into the hands of Chai Wala & his Dhabba politics. With Indian General Elections nearly half a year away, it is obvious that every decision of BJP Government would be weighed against political gains versus losses. Indian politics is still Pakistan-centric whereas Pakistani politics, despite its frailties has grown out of India-centric mania. Lastly, whether its frustration with growing Kashmir Freedom Movement, embarassment of Rafale aircrafts deal with France or pure 'suck up' to show 'solidarity' with BJP Government in the wake of upcoming General Elections, General Bipin Rawat's bravado is no more than a loser's bluff. And if not, then I like hundreds & thousands of others am on reservists' list and  sweating to get back in action.
Only Allah knows the whole Truth.

No comments:

Post a Comment