Reuters :
The Indian Army’s brief foray this week into Myanmar to hunt militants has set alarm bells ringing in far-away Pakistan. By suggesting the Myanmar incident could set a precedent for more cross-border raids, including into Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, MoS Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore took the row one step further.
Bellicose language is nothing new between the nuclear-armed neighbours, but Pakistanis say recent events have further hurt relations already strained since Narendra Modi came to power. And as long as the talk is of threats and retaliation, hopes of finding a way out of decades of war and suspicion look slim. It is also not without its risks. “Very bad news often follows when adversaries give up on improved relations,” Michael Krepon, co-founder of the Stimson Center in Washington, wrote in a blogpost on the Arms Control Wonk. “We’re at this juncture now on the Subcontinent,” added Krepon, an authority on nuclear security in South Asia. “Absent top-down initiatives to mend fences, initiatives that
New Delhi appears unwilling to take and that Pakistan’s civilian government is handcuffed from taking, the stage will be set for another nuclear-tinged crisis in the region.”
One trigger for this week’s bitter verbal exchanges was India’s action thousands of kilometres east of Pakistan.
The Indian Army’s brief foray this week into Myanmar to hunt militants has set alarm bells ringing in far-away Pakistan. By suggesting the Myanmar incident could set a precedent for more cross-border raids, including into Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, MoS Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore took the row one step further.
Bellicose language is nothing new between the nuclear-armed neighbours, but Pakistanis say recent events have further hurt relations already strained since Narendra Modi came to power. And as long as the talk is of threats and retaliation, hopes of finding a way out of decades of war and suspicion look slim. It is also not without its risks. “Very bad news often follows when adversaries give up on improved relations,” Michael Krepon, co-founder of the Stimson Center in Washington, wrote in a blogpost on the Arms Control Wonk. “We’re at this juncture now on the Subcontinent,” added Krepon, an authority on nuclear security in South Asia. “Absent top-down initiatives to mend fences, initiatives that
New Delhi appears unwilling to take and that Pakistan’s civilian government is handcuffed from taking, the stage will be set for another nuclear-tinged crisis in the region.”
One trigger for this week’s bitter verbal exchanges was India’s action thousands of kilometres east of Pakistan.
