The situation in SWAT valley, Pakistan is far from normal. As per Time over 1.5 million civilians have been displaced and both sides claim to have killed over a 1000 soldiers.
For the past decade or so the government had little control over North West Frontier, but now the situation has reached crisis proportion. Pakistan needs all the men it can to fight the situation, but the problem is that bulk of its army and military infrastructure is entrenched all along the Indo Pak border and is miles away from the actual battlefield. The trust between we 2 countries is so low that no General can even think of sparing these men.
Now the question is:
1. What is the implication of this Afghan Pak standoff for India?
2. How can India make the best of it?
Losing control over the SWAT valley could destabilize/topple the newly formed democratic government in Pak. Now a democratic govt is always far better for the peace of the region than a military dictator. (Musharaff was a war hero and the chief architect for Kargil War)
Lawlessness are the recruiting grounds for terrorist. Even now Pakistan is feeling the heat of the attacks from these groups. We not only have a moral responsibility to lend them a helping hand, but ending this would reduce a lot of terrorist threats for India. After all its better to curtail the threat of Taliban on Pak soil then battle them out in our cities.
Goodwill: If India makes the smallest gesture like declaring:
“We (India) sympathize with Pak for the battle they are fighting and unilaterally declare cease fire till the threat is over” and also withdraw some troops then it will not only help us gain some goodwill with
a. Pak Army
b. Pak population
c. International Forums.
This will free a lot of Pak troops to fight the talibans. Indian army should also welcome this move because this way not only military expenses will go down, it will free our soldiers for other pressing tasks.
I think a small gesture like this could go a long way in resolving the indo-pak conflict over kashmir and also extract diplomatic mileage.
12 replies on “Indo-Pak relations and Taliban”
I guess declaring the cease fire would be a good gesture!! But aren’t we in a ceasefire with Pakistan as of now?? Withdrawing troops from the border would be the worst idea anyone can have. Guess where would the terrorist go if they are being spanked in Pakistan. Either Afghanistan or India. In Afghanistan, US troops are trying really hard to keep them away. If India removed the troops, it would be an open invitation to the terrorist. The Indian troops on Pakistan border have only one major purpose, thwarting any infiltration efforts. If Pakistan army stopped supporting terrorists in their infiltration bids, there would be no need of Indian army on Pakistan border.
amit there r 2 kinds of troops on indian border….
1. BSF/Pak Rangers and other paramilitary personals that are there to guard the borders
2. light and heavy mechanized troops and infantry.. which are there to defend/launch offensive in case of a full scale war.
withdrawing the first kind would be bad.. just as u said…
but SWAT valley needs the second kind of troops… one that can launch a counteroffensive… and if India withdraws such troops … then pak might be able to redeploy the same.
these troops r designed to fight conventional warfare.. against columns of infantry and armored cars.. with/without air support… these skills don’t come in handy when u want to fight terrorists trying to infiltrate borders.
Ankur
Do the Pakistanis want a taliban decimation from pakistan?
if so what will happen to their strategic depth doctrine?
Does the isi accept a taliban rout in Swat? (suvastu of ancient)
what is their comfort level and will they be happy to get rid of mullah radio? only time will tell
is this a mere tactic to placate the westerners and let the dollars flow again to the cash strapped almost bankrupt pak economy?
as of recent the us has tripled their aid and the pakis have successfully deleted the war against India clause from the agreement
Worse even the post states that the casualties are being highly exaggerated by the govt
Secondly do u remember how the zombies under mullah radios command , had proceeded to a village quite close to islamabad – ringing alarm bells in washington suddenly packed up and disappeared when the us started intense diplomatic negotiations with the pakis? remember this was deemed to be due to the isi influence?
Lastly we are fighting a defensive battle here and all of paks arms
be it the rangers – nli – army or the isi single mindedly push inflitrators into our soil – will this jihadi infiltration from the ujc let jem and others stop? Can we trust the pakistanis ?
i agree both sides don’t trust each other a lot…
and yes i agree its more than a coincidence … these uprising happened when Pak’s international aid was endangered…
but think it this way… what would india lose by this gesture?
and any diplomatic mileage it gains /does not gain… won’t cost us anything….
the cold war is becoming unmanageable. we have to end it.. through diplomatically or otherwise
Ankur,
do u know why and how pakistan deployed its army along the border recently? thereby forcing India to do the same.
hint – it has got something to do with 26/11!
we did not put our army there. we only responded to pakistan’s deployment. they can always request us that they need to withdraw some troops for the operations against taliban and i’am sure we will respond positively. but unless the initiative comes from them this is a total non-starter.
http://chellaney.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!4913C7C8A2EA4A30!1030.entry
why appeasing pakistan in anyway is a bad idea.
I think it was more to do not with 26/11 that was a done deal and everyone knew that india wouldnt deploy as sufficient voices had said it loud and clear
i think it was more to do with the stopage of funds from the us as obama came in on accountability plank, the act was detailed in the Wpost and preceded the arrival of someone big in the us
pakistan is a champion at brinkmanship diplomacy right from the Regan era only upstaged by likes of nkorea and iran !
Ur motives are noble but i think ur logic is misplaced
in hindsight i agree it was a dual purpose deployment but why did it stretch so long right from dec 27th till may, that too when elections were declared and in process.
this was a pressure tactic to push the congress
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN0132206420070801?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN0132206420070801?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0
http://www.rferl.org/content/Pakistan_Moves_Troops_Toward_Indian_Border_Further_Raising_Regional_Tensions/1364204.html
nice link…
i agree that india and pak have been very aggressive in the past… but what does an standing army achieve?
all i am saying is the current international policies (read USA) favours pak… is directing towards strengthening and building sustainable development there… all we do is shift its focus… make the situation seem less worse than what the world perceives it to be… show the world that pak is getting all the help it needs (and hence there is no need for more aid/help)
i meant the us congress which was to vote on the obama pak aid bill
@prax…
sorry ur comment was in spam folder for a long time…
i am going through ur links… what i can say is that international diplomacy is guided a lot by self interest, past concerns.
true