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Pakistan’s Military Has Quietly Reached Out to India for Talks

Pakistan’s Military Has Quietly Reached Out to India for Talks
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Naval officers at an Independence Day ceremony last month in Karachi, Pakistan.CreditCreditAkhtar Soomro/Reuters


By Maria Abi-Habib

  • Sept. 4, 2018
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Concerned about Pakistan’s international isolation and faltering economy, the country’s powerful military has quietly reached out to its archrival India about resuming peace talks, but the response was tepid, according to Western diplomats and a senior Pakistani official.

The outreach, initiated by the army’s top commander, Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, began months before Pakistan’s national elections. Pakistan offered to resume on-and-off talks with India over their border dispute in the Kashmir region, which stalled in 2015 as violence flared up there.

A key objective for Pakistan in reaching out to India is to open barriers to trade between the countries, which would give Pakistan more access to regional markets. Any eventual peace talks over Kashmir are likely to involve an increase in bilateral trade as a confidence-building measure.

billions of dollars in loans from China earlier this year to pay its bills.

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General Bajwa linked Pakistan’s economy to the region’s security in a hallmark speech last October, and the idea that the two are inseparable has since become known as the Bajwa doctrine. The army chief is also seen as more moderate than his predecessors were on India, which has been Pakistan’s bitter rival since the bloody partition that came with independence in 1947.

The Pakistani general and his Indian counterpart, Gen. Bipin Rawat, served together in a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Congo about a decade ago and get along well, diplomats say. Earlier this year, General Bajwa said the only way to solve the two countries’ conflict was through dialogue, a rare statement from the military.

Diplomats say General Bajwa has tried to reach out to General Rawat to initiate talks. But the effort has been stymied by what one diplomat called a “system mismatch.”


The army is Pakistan’s most powerful institution, but India’s military is much weaker and could not agree to a peace deal without the civilian government’s approval. Diplomats in New Delhi say Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is preoccupied with elections expected early next year and does not want talks before then, fearing that if talks collapse — as they have many times before — it could cost them at the polls.

in his victory speech, addressing India. “We need to move ahead.”

With Mr. Khan in office, talks may have a better chance because he is seen as the army’s man, diplomats in both Islamabad and New Delhi say. India sees Mr. Khan’s outreach as sanctioned by the military and believes he will clearly present General Bajwa’s demands and red lines.

That the military would initiate such a major foreign policy decision unilaterally, and before the elections, suggests it was confident that its preferred candidate, Mr. Khan, would win. Mr. Khan was sworn in as prime minister last month, in the wake of accusations that the army had intervened to back his candidacy.

Diplomats in Islamabad say Pakistan’s outreach may also be driven in part by the country’s Chinese allies. Beijing has prodded Pakistan to stabilize its border with India, hoping for greater stability as it pursues its regional economic ambitions. China is investing some $62 billion in Pakistan, mostly in large infrastructure projects through what is being called the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, part of China’s global Belt and Road initiative.

attacked a bus carrying Chinese workers, wounding five.

Pakistan may also be realizing that it can no longer withstand its growing international isolation and its worsening ties with the United States, which was once its closest Western ally. The United States cut more than $1 billion of aid to Pakistan in January for not doing enough to curb terror groups, which it accuses the army of supporting.

Tensions with Washington were further aggravated this week when the American military said it would withhold $300 million in aid to Pakistan, just days before the Trump administration’s first meeting with Mr. Khan’s new government. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is scheduled to meet Mr. Khan on Wednesday in Islamabad, and Pakistani lawmakers enraged over the aid cut have been calling for Mr. Khan to scrap the meeting.

In the past, military and government officials in Pakistan have said they could withstand American aid cuts, pointing to their growing ties with China. But Pakistan was stunned this year when China went along with putting Islamabad on a terror-financing watch list, which will make it harder and more expensive for Pakistan to raise badly needed funding on international debt markets.


Salman Masood contributed reporting from Islamabad, and Hari Kumar from New Delhi.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/04/world/asia/pakistan-india-talks.html
 
NY times is a part of Bollywood ?
Has been posting articles that reflect that sort of fantasia, just depends on the quality of the reporters, their bias and the editorial team. Attention may be paid to accuracy on Trump but on Pakistan any tripe is left to fly.



However,

There is some truth to the reaching out part, but less of it has economic compulsion as much as social and humanitarian.

Economic compulsions have little to do with China and the FATF,that is the usual straw-man argument collections thrown about. The true side is that the establishment is realizing that a growing population with a wrecked economy is a bad idea. They require development which is not possible unless borders are calm. CPEC is not possible without peace along both borders as any transit is going to be vary of danger.
Peace isnt some “anti-terror” compulsion as oft repeated in tripe in western newspapers and is gospel truth from the Indian side, but an economic compulsory due to an approaching economic doom unless massive social and geopolitical changes are undertaken.

The border villages and those on the Kashmir side are griping how they are facing constant fire from your trigger happy and “could not care less about civilian” policy. The local civil administration can’t relocate all towns and villages along with failing to provide resources and infrastructure. retaliation leaves civilians on the Indian side who are also Kashmiris in danger, the locals have now started to tire of the constant danger and are publicly blaming the militants for their misery.
 
After listening to various Western media reports on Youtube about IK becoming the PM of Pakistan, I am convinced that western media is heavily biased and intentionally omit facts and spread misinformation when it comes to Pakistan.
This. I have no clue why and how this vendetta started against IK but it sure is disturbing and in a way shows that there are countries who do not wish to respect the mandate of the public...
 
Lol naya pakistan

Already up & following US's orders
Not exactly. The Indian government cannot accept a Pakistani nation to be self sustaining on their own....the Indian government have a habit of bullying. Please do not confuse this comment with their people. And it is Trump's backing mostly to put them on the list....less of a majority US government backing....
 
The border villages and those on the Kashmir side are griping how they are facing constant fire from your trigger happy and “could not care less about civilian” policy. The local civil administration can’t relocate all towns and villages along with failing to provide resources and infrastructure. retaliation leaves civilians on the Indian side who are also Kashmiris in danger, the locals have now started to tire of the constant danger and are publicly blaming the militants for their misery.

Is there an inkling of an admission that Pakistani Army is bucking under some kind of Indian pressure ?
 
Is there an inkling of an admission that Pakistani Army is bucking under some kind of Indian pressure ?
Could possibly be, not here though but through the statements of the Chief.
Calling it buckling under Indian pressure would be jingoistic but it’s your thought.
Its buckling under realpolitik and economics.

Nuclear weapons have literally ensured that there is no cold start or war, its stuck now. What is left is economics and the geopolitical influences that go with it.

Pakistan has just lost the US completely and has realized that China(like India) isn’t looking for a conflict. They are both looking for economics despite surface bluster; if Pakistan doesn’t catch on and capitalize on its usefulness to both China and India(still more useful than any bypasses or overflights or otherwise).. eventually it will become less and less relevant to its economic potential in the region.
Add to that a potential 300 million mostly young and you have a recipe for chaos.

In addition, the Pakistani is no longer the disconnected poverty stricken population. Poverty exists on a large scale but so does information access, everyone now has access to studies and options and conspiracies that go beyond print and news media.
People hear of water and power shortages with both doomsday and fantasic scenarios, this is causing public dissent to mount as well.
Extremism runs as a cancer in the society catching poor and middle class alike while the rich get richer.
The military sees its own privilege and reputation under much more criticism.
This is what is causing the buckling.
 
Pakistan’s Military Has Quietly Reached Out to India for Talks

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Concerned about Pakistan’s international isolation and faltering economy, the country’s powerful military has quietly reached out to its archrival India about resuming peace talks, but the response was tepid, according to Western diplomats and a senior Pakistani official.

The outreach, initiated by the army’s top commander, Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, began months before Pakistan’s national elections. Pakistan offered to resume on-and-off talks with India over their border dispute in the Kashmir region, which stalled in 2015 as violence flared up there.

A key objective for Pakistan in reaching out to India is to open barriers to trade between the countries, which would give Pakistan more access to regional markets. Any eventual peace talks over Kashmir are likely to involve an increase in bilateral trade as a confidence-building measure.

Increasingly, Pakistan’s military sees the country’s battered economy as a security threat, because it aggravates the insurgencies that plague the country. Pakistan is expected to ask the International Monetary Fund for $9 billion in the coming weeks, after receiving several billions of dollars in loans from China earlier this year to pay its bills.
We want to move forward and we are trying our best to have good ties with all our neighbors, including India,” Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said. “As General Bajwa says, regions prosper, countries don’t. India cannot prosper by weakening Pakistan.”

Image
merlin_135891525_9b7daab3-b348-4783-88ec-3cad46b12272-articleLarge.jpg

The Pakistani Army’s top commander, Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, center right, is more moderate toward India than his predecessors were.CreditAamir Qureshi/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
General Bajwa linked Pakistan’s economy to the region’s security in a hallmark speech last October, and the idea that the two are inseparable has since become known as the Bajwa doctrine. The army chief is also seen as more moderate than his predecessors were on India, which has been Pakistan’s bitter rival since the bloody partition that came with independence in 1947.

The Pakistani general and his Indian counterpart, Gen. Bipin Rawat, served together in a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Congo about a decade ago and get along well, diplomats say. Earlier this year, General Bajwa said the only way to solve the two countries’ conflict was through dialogue, a rare statement from the military.


https://www.google.co.in/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2018/09/04/world/asia/pakistan-india-talks.amp.html
It seems there r similarities b/w Bajwa n Musharaf approach. Even mush initiated Cbm n now Bajwa is also doing the same. But why did the news publish in New York times just b4 Pompso's arrival? It seems Pak wanted 2 put across the message that its our region so don't let anybody 2 spoil it even it is US..
 
Google.in/NYTimes..................Bullshit


Pakistan’s Military Has Quietly Reached Out to India for Talks

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Concerned about Pakistan’s international isolation and faltering economy, the country’s powerful military has quietly reached out to its archrival India about resuming peace talks, but the response was tepid, according to Western diplomats and a senior Pakistani official.

The outreach, initiated by the army’s top commander, Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, began months before Pakistan’s national elections. Pakistan offered to resume on-and-off talks with India over their border dispute in the Kashmir region, which stalled in 2015 as violence flared up there.

A key objective for Pakistan in reaching out to India is to open barriers to trade between the countries, which would give Pakistan more access to regional markets. Any eventual peace talks over Kashmir are likely to involve an increase in bilateral trade as a confidence-building measure.

Increasingly, Pakistan’s military sees the country’s battered economy as a security threat, because it aggravates the insurgencies that plague the country. Pakistan is expected to ask the International Monetary Fund for $9 billion in the coming weeks, after receiving several billions of dollars in loans from China earlier this year to pay its bills.
We want to move forward and we are trying our best to have good ties with all our neighbors, including India,” Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said. “As General Bajwa says, regions prosper, countries don’t. India cannot prosper by weakening Pakistan.”

Image
merlin_135891525_9b7daab3-b348-4783-88ec-3cad46b12272-articleLarge.jpg

The Pakistani Army’s top commander, Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, center right, is more moderate toward India than his predecessors were.CreditAamir Qureshi/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
General Bajwa linked Pakistan’s economy to the region’s security in a hallmark speech last October, and the idea that the two are inseparable has since become known as the Bajwa doctrine. The army chief is also seen as more moderate than his predecessors were on India, which has been Pakistan’s bitter rival since the bloody partition that came with independence in 1947.

The Pakistani general and his Indian counterpart, Gen. Bipin Rawat, served together in a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Congo about a decade ago and get along well, diplomats say. Earlier this year, General Bajwa said the only way to solve the two countries’ conflict was through dialogue, a rare statement from the military.


https://www.google.co.in/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2018/09/04/world/asia/pakistan-india-talks.amp.html

Must be some petty indian writer in NYTimes.

Indian ego out of NyTimes must be cool to read.
 

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