Sir — This refers to the article, “Trust Islamabad, but verify too” (May 16) by Mayuri Mukherjee.
The otherwise well-written article misses some important points. The first and most important is that Mr Nawaz Sharif won all of his seats from Pakistani Punjab. Similarly, his opponents didn’t win any seat outside of their areas of influence. This shows how deeply fractured and polarised the electorate is in Pakistan. It is a fact that whoever controls Punjab, controls Pakistan, and considering that the Pakistani Army is also predominantly Punjabi, it leaves one wondering about who is eventually pulling the strings.
Even if Mr Sharif initiates any peace move with India, will he get support from the rest of PakistanIJ That’s assuming he will be sincere about eradicating Pakistan-sponsored terrorism directed towards India. But considering how radicalised the general Pakistani population has become, it is an impossible task for him to win approval for such action.
India should not let its guard down. As mentioned in the article, Mr Sharif has links with many hardline organisations and extremists. Interestingly, the Taliban hasn’t been active in Punjab for some reason. In the end, all of them are Pakistanis, and they share a similar antagonism towards India. It’s to be seen if that changes.