What steps are going to be taken after the letter of the Indian PM to Prime Minister Imran Khan on Pakistan Day? Everyone is analyzing and making careful estimates. No wonder if the High Commissioners of Pakistan and India return to assume their responsibilities in Islamabad and New Delhi. The SAARC Summit may also be held in Islamabad and Narendra Modi may also attend the SAARC and he may get a red carpet welcome. However, the media, as of now, talks about the process of mediation under which the agreement was first reached between the Pakistani and Indian forces on the full implementation of the ceasefire. A joint statement was issued in this regard. The statement came as Prime Minister Imran Khan was seeking permission from the Narendra Modi government to use Indian airspace to visit Sri Lanka on February 22, 2021.
The Modi government allowed them to use Indian airspace, but at the same time, it asked the Sri Lankan government not to proceed with Imran Khan’s address to the Sri Lankan parliament. Imran Khan was supposed to speak about Pak-India relations and the Kashmir issue. Interestingly, Now Imran Khan has stopped calling Modi a Hitler. We do not also observe even a minute of silence over the sufferings of the Kashmiris in Pakistan anymore.
The US media company Bloomberg has revealed that the UAE mediated the Pak India ceasefire and played a role through track two diplomacy, about which both countries have chosen to remain silent. As far as media reports are concerned, on 26 February, the UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed visited Delhi. Most possibly, he discussed the Pak-India peace process during his talks with his Indian counterpart Dr. S. Jaishankar. This mediation by UAE is neither being acknowledged nor denied. If the news attributed to an unnamed UAE official that the two countries are working on a “four-point roadmap for sustainable peace” is true, then Pak-India High Commissioners will go back to their positions, trade relations will be resumed and the same old traditional so-called comprehensive dialogue process will be resumed.
Dr. Moeed Yusuf has denied having any talks with Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. If that is so, who is it that talked to the Indian authorities on behalf of Islamabad? Nothing has come out about it. Pakistan’s Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa has recently stated that he was prepared to move forward by burying the past. He wants to start a new chapter in the history of Pak-India relations. He may also have extended his tenure in good faith to resolve the Kashmir issue in accordance with the aspirations of the Kashmiris. All this will come to light in the future. Who knows, India may also restore the statehood of occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
If India is serious about a ceasefire, peace, and trade, then what is the purpose of the massacre in Occupied Kashmir, crackdown, imprisonment, arrests, and issuance of domicile to non-Kashmiri Indians and Bangladeshi Hindus after 70 years? Why are non-Kashmiris being given the right to vote and apply for jobs in Kashmir? What are the objectives of evicting Kashmiris from their land and property? If the latest peace roadmap between Pakistan and India, like General Musharraf’s four-point formula, grows at the expense of Kashmir, the prospects for lasting peace, friendship, and trade will be diminished.