Lakhvi's release drama explodes while PM Modi is in Sri Lanka: Here's what it means

Colombo: When foreign secretary S Jaishankar held a hurried and rather short briefing here on Friday about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s talks with Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena just before Modi’s address to the Sri Lankan parliament, he declined to take questions over the release of Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi, one of the key accused in the Mumbai terror attacks. Jaishankar disappointed the media as he was running against time to catch up with the PM for his upcoming appointments. But the very fact that he found time to brief journalists was a thoughtful gesture. [caption id=“attachment_2154237” align=“alignleft” width=“380” class=" “]  Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi. PTI/File image[/caption] Hours later Ministry of External Affairs Spokesman Syed Akbaruddin issued a terse statement expressing India’s outrage over the Pakistani court’s order of Lakhvi’s release. Here is the operative part of the MEA statement: “This goes against Pakistan’s professed commitment to combat terrorism, including its recently stated policy of not differentiating amongst terrorists. If such a person, who is also a designated international terrorist by the United Nations, is released it will pose a threat that cannot be ignored.” It is not the first time when Pakistan has needled India at a time when the Indian PM is on a foreign tour, nor will it be the last. The timing of the Pakistani act has been provocative, as always. It is an attempt at cocking a snook at India and an attempt to internationalise India-Pakistan bilateral dispute. But in the end, it is Pakistan that has had to eat crow in the entire episode. Lakhvi won’t be released, after all for now. The home department of Punjab government has finally determined that Lakhvi won’t be released for one month. Yes, the american pressure has worked. Obviously the so -called Indian pressure sounds good only for the sake of rhetoric as Pakistan has always projected that it cares two hoots about India. But for record sake India did lodge its protest as discussed above. Ironically, the Punjab government’s Home Ministry’s order to keep Lakhvi in jail for at least one month more calls Islamabad’s bluff. Pakistan has always told India as well as the international community that it could not interfere in the judicial process. It was the decision of the Islamabad High Court’s order to release Lakhvi which has now been upturned by the Pakistani home ministry. This shows how brazen can brazen actually be in Pakistan. Imagine Delhi High Court passing an order and Arvind Kejriwal government’s Home Ministry vetoing it! In the much wider bilateral context of India and Pakistan, the present Lakhvi incident is just a minor irritant not deserving even a footnote in history. However, it offers many interesting takeaways in India-Pakistan context. One, India-Pakistan relations have remained either frigid or hostile for most of its 68-year-old history. So why bother about it in the first place. Two, if at all the relations have to be mended let it happen at is own pace without any pressure from any quarters. Three, let India’s Pakistan policy be tackled on case to case basis rather than exploring more grandiose and long term plans.