A chink in the Indo-Pak ice

Peace overtures call for cautious pragmatism

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India | Pakistan  | Bilawal Bhutto

Over the past week, small signs of a thaw in India-Pakistan relations, which have been frozen since 2016, raise fresh hopes of a more lasting peace between the two nations. On January 18, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif indicated his desire for peace with India in an interview with a Dubai-based TV channel, saying Pakistan had learnt its lessons after being defeated in three wars, which only brought “more misery, poverty and unemployment to the people”. Later, his office walked back the comments a bit, stipulating that talks could take place only when India reversed its decision to end special status on Kashmir. Though the government is unlikely to accede to this condition, since it considers the reading down of Article 370 a signature achievement, it nevertheless chose to read the signals from Islamabad with relative charity. Less than a week later, an invitation was extended to Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation foreign ministers’ meeting that India would be hosting in Goa in May.