Pakistan military reaches out to India: Report

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa recognizes that the way to peace and prosperity in Pakistan is through military cooperation with India, according to an analytical report published by UK-based think-tank Royal Unites Services Institute (RUSI).
In a historic first, according to the report, last month Gen Bajwa had invited Sanjay Vishwasrao, the Indian military attaché, and his team to the Pakistan Day military parade in Islamabad. Two weeks later, Bajwa said that the Pakistan military wanted peace and dialogue with India.

A sign that the two long-time foes might be warming up to each other, the two countries will also take part in joint military drills in Russia with Chinese participation in September. “These initiatives come against a background of almost weekly exchanges of fire along the Line of Control in Kashmir,” the report noted.

Last year, while speaking at RUSI, Gen Bajwa welcomed Indian participation in the $60 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

There is a change in attitude since Bajwa became the army chief in November 2016. Approaches by Pakistani military have been welcomed by some in India, because they are seen to be able to deliver on peace, said the report while adding that senior Pakistani officer Lieutenant General Aamir Riaz headed the first ever high level contact group with India as Director-General Military Operations.

The report said that another top officer, Major General Ahmed Hayat, the Director General of analysis wing of the Inter-Services-Intelligence, authored the so-called India Plan in 2013, which tried to ascertain how and when Pakistan should approach India.

He concluded that the Pakistani military would approach India once Pakistan’s own defence diplomacy was strengthened and not under American threats or pressure. “It is a no brainer that one cannot live in an environment of perpetual enmity with a neighbour six times your size, but the indicators have to be right,” he said.

“History teaches us to be cautious when approaching India – history paints India as an anti-status quo entity,” Hayat was quoted as saying.

With growing security and stability on the western border, since the army launched anti-terror operations Zarb-e-Azb in 2014 and Radd-ul-Fassad in 2017, the army understands that talking to India will help the country’s upward economic trajectory and allow regional trade flourish. “Hayat’s plan could come to fruition this year,” the report said.

However, India has so far rejected Pakistan’s offer of a transit trade dialogue on Afghan–Indian commerce. But with a sustained approach by Pakistani officers to India, it could only be a matter of time before Delhi agrees to at least talk to Islamabad, the report noted.