Pervez Musharraf To Bajwa Why India Pakistan Secret Dialogue On Kashmir Always Failed

New Delhi:

One winter morning about five years ago, an aristocrat playing polo arrived at a very prestigious hotel in central London. In the hope that the time had come to end all the barbaric matches he had played so far. Pakistan intelligence of Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) Major General Sahibzada Isfandiyar Pataudi, the former Deputy Chief of the Army, was selected for that secret mission. Pataudi was to meet the man who had long spoken against Pakistani intelligence. India Worked as a goalkeeper. A Tamilian by caste, but a Punjabi-speaking man, he campaigned against jihadists in Pakistan. Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) The command of the operation was handled. In the first of their three meetings, Pataudi tried to convince the Indian officer that the then army chief, Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa Line of Control (LOC) Were determined to end ISI’s secret war across the country. to carry out their plans Kashmir But India’s help was needed in the form of concessions.

Secret meetings were also held in 2018
Earlier last month, Pakistani columnists Hamid Mir and Javed Chaudhary reported that the secret meetings of 2018 were indeed going to change the history of India-Pakistan. Both these Pakistani journalists, quoting their sources, had claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was to meet former Prime Minister Imran Khan in April 2021 after visiting the Hinglaj Mata temple. During this meeting, an agreement was to be announced regarding the status quo in Kashmir. However, plans for the summit collapsed after Khan backed out of the agreement fearing political backlash. Neither Islamabad nor New Delhi reacted to these dramatic revelations. However, leaving aside the details of the meetings, the report brings to the fore the persistent pursuit of peace by the leaders in both the countries. Also the reasons due to which talks have always failed on ‘historic’ occasions.

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Pervez Musharraf also gave instructions for secret talks on Kashmir
After his defeat in Kargil, the military ruler of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf escalated the violence in Kashmir. The result was that more soldiers had to be lost in Pakistan inspired and sponsored terrorism than India did not lose in the war between the two countries. After the terrorist attack on Parliament House in 2001, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee only threatened military retaliation. Arjan Tarapore writes, ‘However, thinking of the uncertain consequences of full war and the risk of nuclear attacks involved in it, India backed down. Even though General Musharraf should have been happy on this, the General agreed to a ceasefire on the Line of Control in 2003. At the same time, ordered to implement the secret talks with Prime Minister Vajpayee and the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. According to Lt. Gen. Moinuddin Haider, who was Home Minister under General Pervesh Musharraf, this decision was taken because Pakistan was paying a heavy economic cost for promoting Jihadism.

India-Pak agreed on a four-point formula
In late 2007, Manmohan Singh’s secret envoy Satinder Lamba said that the two countries had agreed on a four-point formula. Under this, the Line of Control was to be given a high degree of autonomy to Kashmir on both sides of the border. However, the agreement broke down after the 26/11 attacks. The files on the secret talks on Kashmir were handed over to Prime Minister Narendra Modi by his predecessor in the summer of 2014. Although tensions along the LoC flared up again that summer, efforts to restore peace soon resumed. In late 2015, India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval met with his counterpart Nasir Janjua in Bangkok. After this secret meeting, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unexpectedly reached Lahore on the wedding of the granddaughter of the then Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, to congratulate him. However, like in 2008, this rapprochement was marred by the Pakistan-sponsored terrorist attack on the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot at the beginning of the new year. Even though Doval met Janjua again in an attempt to save the peace process. This time also the increasing violence across the border has destroyed the possibility of peace.

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Bajwa also took the initiative to restore peace
The efforts to restart the peace process seem to have started in October 2018, when General Bajwa visited the UK. During this visit, General Bajwa met the then Chief of Defense Staff General Nicholas Patrick Carter of the United Kingdom and National Security Advisor Mark Sedwill. Gen Bajwa had deep personal ties to Britain, which is home to his sister-in-law Asma Bajwa and brothers Tariq and Javed Bajwa. Apart from this, London was also included in the few capitals of the world, which used to listen to Pakistan’s side with sympathy. With a rapidly declining economy and an ongoing violent terrorist conflict with Tehreek-e-Taliban jihadists, General Bajwa came to the conclusion that he needed peace with India. FATF had completed putting Pakistan on the monitoring list on the charges of terror financing. Pakistan had also come under deep international pressure in those days.

Bajwa also extended the round of secret talks
Like General Musharraf, Army Chief Bajwa started secret talks under pressure. After getting encouragement from London, ISI reached Indian intelligence agency RAW for a meeting. However, only a few details about this secret conversation came to the fore. Nevertheless, RAW officials and Pataudi are believed to have discussed several proposals, including restoring the ceasefire along the Line of Control. Then history repeated itself and the 2019 Pulwama terror attack derailed this secret dialogue as well. In this terrorist attack, the alleged trust on General Bajwa was also a field. However, New Delhi soon felt the pressure to give the army chief another chance. Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Abu Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan called PM Modi and Imran after the air strike as a surgical strike on Balakot. Diplomat Ahmed al-Banna later also said that the two leaders were urged to try to resolve the differences peacefully. Western countries also kept an eye on these developments with caution. During a visit to London in June 2019, Bajwa urged Britain to facilitate the resumption of secret talks. The general insisted that he was unaware of the planning of the Pulwama attack and would prevent further terror attacks.

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Kashmir standoff
In early February 2021, Doval secretly met the then ISI chief Lt. Gen. Faiz Hameed. India was ready to talk again with Pakistan for two reasons. Even though politicians in Pakistan have launched a scathing attack on India after the Modi government revoked Article 370 in Kashmir in August 2019, Pak-inspired jihadi violence has remained low. Despite increasing tension between India and China, Islamabad did not put military pressure on the Line of Control. The Doval-Faiz dialogue prepared the ground for restoration of the border ceasefire in 2021. Even though limited terrorist infiltration across the Line of Control continued, the level of terrorist violence in Kashmir was at its lowest since Prime Minister Modi took office. The data shows that General Bajwa kept his point of curbing the jihadi groups.

Imran pulled back out of fear
New Delhi might have been happy if Imran had agreed to accept the status quo in Kashmir after 2019, but Wazir-e-Azam could not muster the courage. Last year, British High Commissioner to Pakistan Christian Turner had said in a closed-door meeting that General Bajwa was seeking restoration of the repealed Article 35A of the Constitution of India. With this step of the Modi government, people from outside were also entitled to buy land in Jammu and Kashmir. General Bajwa’s argument was that he needed these political concessions to reduce the pressure from hardliners in the ruling establishment, including Imran Khan, in Kashmir. Imran was afraid of political loss by adopting a soft attitude on Kashmir. This is the reason why Prime Minister Imran rejected his own recommendation twenty four hours after approving the purchase of sugar and cotton from India as Commerce Minister. Even within months of describing Indian PM Modi as the best partner for peace, Imran was calling his government ‘Nazi-inspired’.

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Now India does not want talks
Even though the government has changed in Pakistan, but there has not been an iota of change in the thinking of the rulers sitting in the capitals of both the countries regarding Kashmir. Indian Home Minister Amit Shah has made it clear that the government will not talk with Pakistan on Kashmir. Indian officials argue that Pakistan’s retreat on Kashmir is due to its financial problems, the risk of international sanctions, and increasing military casualties in the country’s own wars against jihadists. According to Indian officials, jihadi groups may have been reined in, but they have not been eliminated. This means that whenever Islamabad wants, it will start fueling terrorist violence again through them. New Delhi believes that time is on its side on Kashmir.