Ceasefire violations have become one too many
Ever since India called off the Foreign Secretary level talks with Pakistan, the latter has been claiming that it is eager to see the day when New Delhi takes the initiative to resume the dialogue process. However, the heavy shelling its Armed Forces have resorted to on Indian posts along the line of Control and the International Border over the last week does not demonstrate Islamabad's sincerity. It is unlikely that the Government of India will engage in talks in the midst of such an unprovoked offensive, which has taken civilian lives as well. The Pakistani military's onslaught has vitiated the environment to even prepare for such talks. left with no option in the face of the offensive, the Centre has clearly instructed the border forces to be ruthless in their response. We are seeing evidence of that directive on the ground, where the Indian Army and the Border Security Force have met Pakistani fire with equal or more fire, leading an alarmed Islamabad to begin evacuating civilians from its border villages. Of course, unlike Pakistan, Indian troops have not been targeting the civilian population across the borders. It can be expected that in the coming days, if Pakistani soldiers continue to violate the ceasefire agreement, they will be met with even stronger retaliation. Meanwhile, Islamabad has resorted to old lies and diversionary tactics to shore up its position. It has claimed that India engaged in unprovoked firing in the first place. There are enough reasons for Islamabad to have violated the ceasefire agreement. The first is that with winter about to set in, Pakistan wants to escalate the situation along the border in a bid to push in as many infiltrators into India to cause havoc in Jammu & Kashmir and elsewhere in the country. The second reason is that the new Pakistani Army chief is eager to establish (just in case someone is under a different impression) that Rawalpindi and not Mr Nawaz Sharif's democratically-elected Government in Islamabad calls the shots as far as Pakistan's policy with regard to India is concerned. The third is that Mr Sharif, himself much weakened after having barely escaped being ousted following recent street protests, would want nothing better as a diversion than a military escalation with India. And, the fourth reason is that Pakistan is desperate to overcome the diplomatic disasters it faced following Mr Sharif's failure to garner support after he raised the Kashmir issue in the United Nations General Assembly, and after a joint India-US statement issued recently referred to dismantling and disabling Pakistan-based terror outfits such as the lashkar-e-Tayyeba and the D-company (Dawood Ibrahim's outfit).
Boxed into a corner, Pakistan has now adopted another desperate measure: Complaining to the virtually defunct United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan. India long ceased to recognise the relevance of this group. Moreover, after the ceasefire agreement between the two countries came into being, the UNMOGIP has had no meaning. Pakistan vainly hopes that by invoking to the UN outfit, it will be able to keep up pressure on internationalising the Kashmir issue. If things continue as they presently are, New Delhi will have to consider diplomatic measures, in addition to the ongoing, robust military response.