L
ike a Greek tragedy, every new play scripted by
India and Pakistan to improve relations between
them ends up with either a sad or bad ending. That
narrative hasn’t changed despite the emergence of a
new actor on the scene: Imran Khan. The cricket-
ing legend-turned-politician and now prime minister of
Pakistan had complainedduringhiselectioncampaignthat
he was portrayed in India as a Bollywood villain. Khan was
being presumptuous. Many Indian experts regarded him as
a sidekick of the Pakistan Army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa,
whom they consider the big baddie.
Backed by the PakistanArmy,Khanrodetopower
on the plank of forging a ‘Naya (new) Pakistan’, ridding
the country of corruption and setting right its flailing
economy. Khan also signalledthathewaswillingtostart
a new innings with India. Just a month into the job, he
was writing a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in
which he said he was keen to move forward on resolving
all outstanding issues, including Kashmir (Pakistan’s core
concern), terrorism (India’s biggest concern) and trade
relations. He suggested that the
respective foreign ministers meet on
the sidelines of the UN General As-
sembly currently on in New York to
“explore the way forward”.
India cautiously accepted the offer
but, within a day, reversed its stand
and said the talks were off because of
“deeply disturbing developments”. The
Ministry of External Affairs spokes-
person cited the “brutal killings” of
India’s security personnel and the
recent release of 20 postage stamps
by Pakistan glorifying terrorists who
have targeted India as the reasons. He
went on to state, with unusual harsh-
ness, that “the evil agenda of Pakistan
stands exposed and the true face of
the new PM of Pakistan Imran Khan
has been revealed to the world ”. K han
then hit out at Modi, tweeting: “All
my life I have come across small men
occupying big offices who do not have
the vision to see the larger picture.”
The Indian statement was found
wanting on several counts. The of-
fending stamps were issued in July when Khan was not in
power,anditisamassiveintelligencefailureifIndiahas
discovered them only now. As regards attacks on security
personnel,theBSFsoldierwasfounddeadwithhisthroat
slit on the International Border (IB) a day before India
accepted the talks offer. The one new development was the
abduction and killing of three Jammu and Kashmir police-
men. But given that there has been a series of such incidents
in the Valley in the recent past, the Indian government’s
knee-jerk reaction remains puzzling.
Indian sources claim that our intelligence agencies had
solid evidence that Pakistan-supported terror groups had
killedthethreepolicemenintheValleytodisrupttheforth-
comingpanchayatelections.TheymaintainthatifKhan
wassincere,heshouldhavegotthearmytoturnoffthetap
on terrorist attacks in the run-up to the talks. They believe
Khan’s effort was more to score brownie points internation-
ally and ease the pressure Pakistan faces from major powers
to curb terrorism. If that was India’s assessment, it should
not have agreed to talks in the first place and avoided doing
aflip-flopthatbeliesanyclaimof
foresight or strategy.
The outcome of the latest slugfest
is that India and Pakistan have
now boxed themselves into an even
tighter corner than before. With both
countries adopting even more rigid
postures, there are hardly any rational
choicesleft.TheModigovernment
should introspect as to why, despite
its professed muscular approach, the
political situation in Kashmir remains
amess.Andwhyitisunabletodeter
Pakistan from stirring up trouble in
theValleyatwillorevenmanagerela-
tionswithiteffectively.Theonusis
also on Pakistan, particularly its army
chief.IfBajwaclaimsthatlikeKhan
he wants peace between the two coun-
tries, then the minimum requirement
is to ensure his army observes the
ceasefire agreement on the LoC and
stems the flow of infiltrators into the
Valley. There is always hope and scope
for new beginnings, but the key is to
guard against tragic endings.■Misire and Fury
RAJ CHENGAPPA
GROUND ZERO
If India thought
Imran’s ofer was
just an efort to
score international
brownie points,
it shouldn’t have
agreed for talks in
the irst placeWith the latest slugfest, both India and Pakistan have painted themselves
into a corner from which there are very few rational choices leftIllustration by SIDDHANT JUMDE