{"id":343607,"date":"2023-05-16T03:09:28","date_gmt":"2023-05-16T08:39:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tehelka.com\/?p=343607"},"modified":"2023-05-16T03:09:37","modified_gmt":"2023-05-16T08:39:37","slug":"face-off-at-sco-meet-kills-chances-of-early-indo-pak-talks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/face-off-at-sco-meet-kills-chances-of-early-indo-pak-talks\/","title":{"rendered":"Face-off at SCO meet kills chances of early Indo-Pak talks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The deep seated mistrust between the two countries surfaced at the SCO meeting in Goa, where Pakistan raked up the abrogation of Article 370 in Kashmir while EAM Jaishankar called his counterpart Bilawal Bhutto a spokesperson of the terrorist industry. A report by Riaz Wani<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No one expected India and Pakistan to resume dialogue at the recent Shanghai Cooperation Foreign Ministers meeting in Goa but there was an expectation that they would at least be able to break the ice. But, on the contrary, what we saw was a complete meltdown, with both sides taking an even harder line against each other.

If anything, the meeting highlighted the persisting deep-seated distrust between the two countries. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar launched a scathing attack on his Pakistani counterpart Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, calling him a \u201cpromoter, justifier, and spokesperson of the terrorist industry.\u201d Jaishankar also accused Pakistan of committing acts of terrorism and stated that Pakistan\u2019s credibility \u201cis depleting faster than its forex reserves.\u201d

Pakistan, once again, raised the issue of the withdrawal of Article 370 and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Jaishankar responded by stating that Article 370 is history.

\u201cWake up and smell the coffee, Article 370 is history now,\u201d Jaishankar said.

The foreign minister also said that the so-called China Pakistan Economic Corridor violates India\u2019s territorial integrity and its sovereignty.

The bitter exchange lasted even after the meeting was over and Bhutto-Zardari had returned to Pakistan.

Although the leaders of the two countries still have a chance to meet during the SCO summit in July, it seems unlikely that the two neighbours will get back to a normal engagement. And considering the bitterness generated \u00a0by the foreign minister\u2019s meeting, it is unlikely that the summit will be any different. More so, when both countries are already in election mode. Pakistan\u2019s national elections are due this year unless the ruling dispensation chooses to drag its feet from the exercise, something which it is currently doing. The situation has become very complicated following the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan. \u00a0It has triggered massive protests across the country. The future of the country has become more uncertain. \u00a0The situation is set to deteriorate further if no political resolution is achieved.

India, on the other hand, \u00a0is holding its general elections in 2024 and around 10 Assembly polls are being held in the run up to the exercise. This will keep the ruling BJP largely preoccupied with campaigning, making the engagement with Pakistan, already of no consequence to the saffron party, even less important. Besides, after Bhutto-Zardari\u2019s cold reception in India, there is a question mark over Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif\u2019s visit to India in July to participate in the SCO summit. That is, if Sharif remains in power, considering the evolving situation in Pakistan.

\u201cI think differences between India and Pakistan have become very irreconcilable now and any engagement between them will demand nothing short of a leap of faith,\u201d said a local politician, not wanting to identify himself. \u201cBut this won\u2019t be possible until after the elections in both the countries, if things go according to the plan.\u201d \u00a0

But despite no talks, India and Pakistan have been successful in maintaining an uneasy peace between them. \u00a0In February 2021, the two countries reinstated the ceasefire along the Line of Control in a surprising development that followed just over a year after the withdrawal of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. But the neighbours failed to build upon it and start a dialogue, probably due to their divergent positions on Kashmir. While Pakistan sought restoration of Kashmir\u2019s special status, New Delhi wanted Islamabad to end cross-border terrorism.

Since then the situation has further transformed. Now the first prerequisite for any Indo-Pak engagement apart from their respective national elections is the \u00a0stabilization in Pakistan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The deep seated mistrust between the two countries surfaced at the SCO meeting in Goa, where Pakistan raked up the abrogation of Article 370 in Kashmir while EAM Jaishankar called his counterpart Bilawal Bhutto a spokesperson of the terrorist industry. A report by Riaz Wani No one expected India and Pakistan to resume dialogue at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":343609,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23,2205],"tags":[16719,16573],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343607"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343607"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":343610,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343607\/revisions\/343610"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media\/343609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}