KARACHI: After the Uri attack in India-held Kashmir, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that he would isolate Pakistan. Then India did not let the Saarc Summit take place. It is increasingly becoming an extremist society. Pakistan should have a foreign policy towards India that should be based on research made by qualified individuals, the kind of policy that should not sound desperate to talk to India but effective enough to bring it back to the dialogue table.

This was said by former dean, faculty of social sciences and meritorious professor at the department of international relations, University of Karachi Dr Moonis Ahmar in his lecture titled ‘What should Pakistan’s India policy be?’ at the Jinnah Medical and Dental College on Thursday evening.

Dr Ahmar said we should learn from history, and raised the question whether Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Sardar Patel, Nehru and Gandhi had ever thought that once the two states (India and Pakistan) came into being, ties between them would remain tense and communication difficult — disputes such as those of Kashmir, Siachen still exist.

Highlighting the matters related to policy, Dr Ahmar said two educational institutions (Jamia Millia and Jawaharlal Nehru University) in India had departments where research on Pakistan was done. Then there is the Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis which has so far published four reports on Pakistan. Five scholars there regularly study Pakistani print and electronic media to keep themselves abreast of the goings-on across the border. On the other hand, while we have a rich culture, the culture of research in Pakistan is not that strong. Whenever a conflict or crisis has raised its head, there’s no institute that has done proper research on it. Then there are certain no-go areas for civil governments, and India is top of that list. However, there is an India desk at the ministry of foreign affairs which does work, but a lot more is required. In that context the scholar touched upon the different institutes such as the Institute of Strategic Studies and the Centre for South Asian Studies at Punjab University which are there, but there’s still a gap, and that gap is filled by the security establishment.

Dr Ahmar then shifted his focus on why we have an India-centric policy. He said India is our eastern neighbour, but the tensions between us haven’t allowed the two countries to progress. Save for the 1970 elections in Pakistan, India has never been an issue in Pakistani elections, whereas in India, for the past 30 years, that’s not the case — they have a threat perception. Rajiv Gandhi came up with a suggestion about Siachen which the Indian army vetoed. Pakistan offered to demilitarise the zone, but India did not accept that either. After the Uri attack, Modi said he would isolate Pakistan and did not let the Saarc Summit happen. India has also been standoffish about the resumption of the comprehensive dialogue.

Coming to the last part of his talk, Dr Ahmar said Pakistan has six options vis-à-vis its policy for India. The first is to take input from those who have a command over foreign policy issues. Second, we should establish India studies centres and researchers in it should be hired on merit. Third, Pakistan should have a proactive policy based on strengths and weaknesses of the other side. Four, unless India reciprocates our gestures, we shouldn’t move ahead. Fifth, foreign policy must be the domain of the ministry of foreign affairs. Six, Pakistan can give India trade and transit facility, but only to get something concrete in return, such as resumption of the comprehensive dialogue.

Earlier, Dr Jaffar Ahmed introduced the speaker to the audience. The lecture was organised by the Institute of Historical and Social Research (IHSR).

Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2019