As Indian Minister for External Affairs Salman Khurshid kept pleading with the media “not to make a mountain out of a molehill” over the LoC incident last Monday, his government succumbed to pressure mounted by the combined Pakistan-bashing forces of opposition and media and called off the talks that the two countries were due to resume on Sir Creek later this month. He was, however, quoted as saying that a new schedule of talks would be decided by Parliament. A meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh are also expected in a month, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly session in New York. Media sources from India indicate that this meeting is still a possibility, despite the ratcheting up on tension by inflammatory rhetoric.
It should be recalled that when Defence Minister A. K. Anthony, to whose version Prime Minister Manmohan Singh agreed, had maintained that “20 heavily-armed terrorists along with persons dressed in Pakistan army uniform”, crossing over the LoC, killed five Indian soldiers, New Delhi gave out that the talks were, in any case, on. Now, the belligerent opposition is also demanding that it should be made clear that the "Indian army would be given a free hand to frame its response at the local level".
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who is keen to develop normal relations with India, rushed to the Foreign Office in a bid to save whatever progress has been in this regard. He was also briefed by the army. Pakistan firmly denied the accusation and, instead, charged the Indians with firing across the line and injuring two of its soldiers. There has also been a fresh incident on Thursday when Indian troops fired at Kotli in Azad Kashmir, right at the time when Pakistan was being blamed in Parliament for the Monday attack. Pakistan army sources have claimed that since January this year, India has violated the LoC no less than 187 times.
This – heightened tempo of belligerent tone and the raid at the Pakistan High Commission – are a case of dangerous hype induced, according to some perceptive analysts, by the eagerness to secure points with an eye on the general elections to be held in 2014. The hype could have serious fallout; and the Pakistan Foreign Office adopted the right course in summoning the Indian Deputy High Commissioner and reminding him of New Delhi’s obligation to provide security to its staff in India. The Indian government’s readiness to cede ground so quickly to the opposition, while it was itself was not convinced of Pakistan army’s role in the killings, is also attributed to the apprehension that the public might, otherwise, be swayed by the opposition-media rhetoric to its disadvantage at the polls. One hopes soon better sense prevails; for the stakes are too high when tensions soar between two nuclear-power states. There is a month's time till the UN General Assembly meeting. Mian Nawaz must make efforts to combat the rising tide of negative reporting from Indian press that endangers this meeting.