“India was the first to suggest a plebiscite as a peaceful method to resolve the Junagadh [a princely state under the British Raj] dispute with Pakistan. India made a similar offer to settle the Kashmir situation in 1947. The offer for the plebiscite was reaffirmed in 1948, and when the U.N. Commission suggested it, and India accepted the proposal,” Sharma notes.
The recent move highlights Pakistan’s readiness to bury its longstanding policy of resolving the Kashmir issue, a key condition for holding any talks with India.
Pakistan is demanding flexibility from India over Jammu and Kashmir’s special status because Pakistan’s public will not accept an agreement unless New Delhi offers something to Islamabad.
“Qureshi, in his TV interview, stated that the abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35A by India vitiated the environment between the countries,” Maria Amjad, an expert on Pakistan’s affairs at the University of Genoa, Italy, told Zenger News.
“Therefore, this time, India has to show flexibility to create a conducive environment. Otherwise, it will be difficult for Pakistan to make it look like a good deal.”
Pakistan is trying to improve the optics of the relations with its neighbor. In March, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan permitted to open trade with India. However, the decision was put on hold by the country’s federal cabinet over concerns that India needed to review the abrogation.
“Why open trade with India if you are such a staunch supporter of the Kashmir cause?” asked Hassan. “I think it was the fear of public pressure and backlash that forced Pakistan into reviewing its decision.”
Pakistan eyeing a new diplomatic route?
Some analysts argue the sense in Islamabad is that Pakistan has not achieved anything against India, despite its decades-long efforts to internalize the Kashmir dispute.
This sense was clear from Pakistan’s Army Chief’s recent address at the Islamabad Security Dialogue. He said it was time for India and Pakistan to “bury the past and move forward”.
For decades, Pakistan has faced India’s aggressive diplomacy globally and could not counter India’s political and diplomatic influence and leverage.
India’s missions, particularly in Europe and the United States, have kept those of Pakistan at bay when broadening outreach and gaining access to policy-making circles.
This fact was also recognized by Imran Khan’s address to his country’s diplomats earlier this month.
Rebuking Pakistani diplomats for not doing a good job, Khan asked them to learn from their Indian counterparts, whom he considered “more proactive”, providing “better services to their citizens”.
“Indian diplomats have done a lot in forging strategic ties with the United States, the European Union, and even the Middle East,” Hassan Khan, an independent analyst based in Islamabad, told Zenger News.
“In the Middle East, they specifically focused on Saudi Arabia and the Emiratis — Pakistan’s traditional allies — in the recent past,” Khan said. “As a global trade powerhouse, India’s economic diplomacy is way ahead of Pakistan if reality checks are taken into consideration.”
Khan said the kind of assistance and support India receives from its Western allies is unmatchable.
“This is where Pakistan lacks attentive focus despite its full cooperation on the Afghan Peace Process — a temporary partnership that won’t lead to any wonders of economic or diplomatic gains.”
It is too early to say if India will offer anything to Pakistan that Islamabad could consider a “conducive environment” to gain space domestically and kick-start trade and other cooperation with New Delhi.
However, Pakistan might have reached a point where it has accepted India’s global status as a major diplomatic power.
“War is not an option. It will be a mutual suicide if Pakistan and India go to war,” Qureshi said earlier.
(Edited by Gaurab Dasgupta and Amrita Das)
