ISLAMABAD: Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif made a strong statement by visiting the Working Boundary on Thursday ahead of Indian foreign secretary’s trip to Islamabad during which the two countries are expected to discuss the way forward in their stalemated relationship.

“General Raheel Sharif, Chief of Army Staff (COAS), today visited the Sialkot Garrison and forward locations on the Working Boundary,” a military spokesman said.

The Working Boundary’s visit contrasted the government’s cautious policy of not taking any politically inflammatory step before the Indian foreign secretary’s arrival. The federal government had quietly decided not to consult the Kashmiri leaders — a move that led to cancellation of foreign secretary’s meeting in August last year, on the pretext that the upcoming interaction has a regional agenda.

During the visit, Gen Sharif not only met his commanders and troops, but also toured the towns and villages affected by Indian shelling telling the people that the entire nation backed the army in its defence of the motherland.

What was otherwise a routine visit to troops assumed special significance in the context of Indian Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar’s expected arrival in Islamabad on March 3. The top Indian diplomat’s visit is part of Indian government’s regional outreach, but both sides appear to have reached the understanding of holding an exploratory discussion on how to get past the deadlock in ties since 2013 that has been caused by ceasefire violations along the Working Boundary and Line of Control.

The Working Boundary and Line of Control over the past couple of years witnessed some of the worst violations since 2003 agreement between the two countries on observing ceasefire along all areas of Working Boundary WB, Line of Control and the Actual Ground Position Line in Jammu and Kashmir.

Over 300 violations by the Indian side were reported during 2014 in which 18 civilians and 2 paramilitary troops from Punjab Rangers were killed. Most of these casualties happened on the Working Boundary that witnessed unusually high frequency of violations. Almost a dozen incidents have also been reported this year, but the intensity is much lesser than the previous year.

The Army Chief used the visit to reiterate the policy of strongly responding to the Indian aggression.

“Let there be no doubt that any provocation along the Line of Control and Working Boundary will meet a befitting response,” he was quoted by ISPR as telling the troops.

Gen Sharif made a similar trip to LoC in September when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was to speak at the United Nations.

Former defence secretary Lt Gen retired Asif Yasin Malik agrees that the timing of Gen Sharif’s visit to the Working Boundary should be seen in the context of the Pak-India engagement scheduled for next month.

“The Army has made its position clear. The overtones (of Gen Sharif’s statement at the Working Boundary) would extend to the Indian foreign secretary’s trip,” he added.

He believes that government should draw strength from the army chief’s move.

Former foreign secretary Shamshad Ahmed, meanwhile, does not see any posturing in Gen Sharif’s Working Boundary tour. He is, however, not too optimistic about the dialogue.

“It is a non-starter and a great facade (by India) for engagement. There is no room for any euphoria and optimism,” he added.

Gen Sharif’s move is, nevertheless, being closely followed in Delhi.

“The visit is a bit of surprise given that there haven’t been any provocations along the LoC and the international boundary (Working Boundary). It will give hawks an opportunity to say that the Pakistani military establishment is opposed to all efforts to put bilateral relations on an even footing,” Rezaul Hassan Laskar, a senior journalist with the Hindustan Times, remarked.

FO BRIEFING: At the weekly media briefing, Foreign Office spokesperson Tasneem Aslam hinted that the two sides would limit themselves to discussions on resuming engagement, instead of right away taking up the hot button issues.

Speaking about the likely agenda for talks, she said, “He (Indian foreign secretary) will meet the (Pakistani) foreign secretary. I would not like to speculate at this stage what exactly would be the agenda of the talks.”

But, she made it very clear that all matters would be on the table for discussion, including Jammu & Kashmir dispute, Siachen, water issues, confidence-building measures, people-to-people contacts, trade matters, but “whenever Pakistan India dialogue resumes”.

The upcoming interaction does not mark the resumption of engagement, but have been described as talks for resuming talks.

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2015

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