Pak LoC violations: Forget elections, Modi needs all parties to support him

The wheel has come full circle as far as the Narendra Modi government’s Pakistan policy is concerned. From the high of their mid-summer honeymoon when the two nuclear armed rivals witnessed a rosy patch in bilateral relations involving saree-shawl gift diplomacy at the highest level, the South Asian Tom and Jerry are back to their blood-letting ways. The Line of Control has become a Line of No Control and the two sides’ armies are busily pounding each other, snuffing out innocent lives on either side of the border in the process. This madness has to stop, but the trouble is that neither side finds it doable. It has become a question of prestige for both of them and both are accusing each other of violating the ceasefire agreement which was the mother of all Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) between the two sides after the pact was stitched up in November 2003. [caption id=“attachment_1744897” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Civilians are dying but both sides seem unable to stop: PTI[/caption] Today this CBM between India and Pakistan has been blown into smithereens with nine civilian deaths and injuries to 37 others on both sides in the last 24 hours. Clearly, it is a political problem being manifested through military means. When Modi was campaigning as the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate from 13 September 2013 to the April-May 2014 general elections, he repeatedly scoffed at the UPA government’s approach towards Pakistan, which he found timid. Now as Prime Minister of India, the chickens are coming home to roost. Thus far the Modi government’s Pakistan policy has not been even a tad different from the previous governments over the past 15 years, including the decade-long tenure of the UPA and the Vajpayee era preceding it. The same goes for India’s China policy. Modi the prime ministerial candidate and Modi the PM find it extremely different to have a viable common ground. While Modi the Candidate harped on his famous 56 inch chest rhetoric, Modi the PM finds it really hard to act differently from the previous governments in dealing with Chinese incursions. Both the problems – Pakistan’s ceasefire violations and China’s incursions – have not only continued but have actually amplified in terms of scope and intensity since the Modi government took over on 26 May. This must be a moment of truth for PM Modi as the stark reality stares hard into his face that you don’t have any easy solutions when you are dealing with a recalcitrant neighbour who is armed with nuclear weapons. India must not allow itself to be played into the hands of Pakistani military establishment by even remotely thinking of a military solution to the issue of Pakistan’s repeated ceasefire violations. It is a political problem and must be addressed as such. Pakistan today is like a chariot driven by multiple horses in multiple directions. No one knows who is actually in command and control of the day-to-day running of the government, though there is no doubt that when it comes to Pakistan’s India policy it has a distinct and perennial ‘Made in Rawalpindi’ label. Now that the Pakistan conundrum has exploded in the Modi government’s face with full fury, it is time for all political parties of India to thrash out a credible solution together. The Prime Minister needs to take an initiative in reaching out to all opposition parties and convene an all-party meeting to arrive at a national approach in dealing with Pakistan as soon as possible. The fact that the country is in the middle of assembly polls in Maharashtra and Haryana should not be a deterrent. Rather, it should be seen as an opportunity for all political parties across the political spectrum to come together and send a message to Pakistan that the whole of India is united. The Modi government cannot tackle the Pakistan challenge on its own and the opposition parties have to lend their support to the government. If they have any divergent views, these should be tackled and fine-tuned at an all-party meeting at the earliest. Neither the government nor the opposition should allow petty ego issues to come in. But sadly none of it seems to be happening. The opposition, particularly the Congress, is busy scoring brownie points over the government. That is a pity. It is a national problem involving national security and all political parties of India need to be on the same page as far as India’s Pakistan policy is concerned. After all, such gory shelling by the two armies on either side has not seen such scale and intensity in decades. *The writer is FirstPost Consulting Editor and a strategic analyst who tweets @Kishkindha.