Arun Joshi

THE opening of the Kartarpur corridor on the two sides of Punjab for Sikh pilgrims can pave the way for the improvement in the Indo-Pak relations that holds the promise to become the X factor in addressing more complex issues like Kashmir. It is hope, as the past is replete with false starts when certainties turned into dark uncertainties.

The Kartarpur corridor will help Indian Sikh pilgrims to visit the shrine where Guru Nanak Dev spent the last 18 years of his life. It is the fulfilment of a long-held wish of Sikhs in this country. There is a need for the two countries to move forward by investing their time and energy in a positive fashion for the stability in the South Asian region.

India is the biggest country in the region and Pakistan is the most strategically located country in the geo-political landscape in South Asia for its critical role in taming violence in Afghanistan and Kashmir.

One of the most important tasks of the Indian foreign policy in the coming months will, therefore, be to lock in a substantially increased investment — diplomatic, economic, and strategic — in the region to gain ascendancy in peace-making efforts.

It is imperative for India to act like a “big country with a big heart”, not because Pakistan is gripped with paranoia that India is its “biggest adversary”. It is a must for the country to play its role at the global stage in the critical phase of the new world order. Our internal stability is as important as our role in the world affairs when so many conflicts are swirling around.

Fourteen years ago India and Pakistan embarked on a remarkable journey when they made the cross-Line of Control (LoC) travel a reality, connecting the divided families of the two sides of the undivided Jammu and Kashmir of the pre-1947 days. The then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s belief that the cross-LoC travel, aptly named as “Caravan-e-Aman”, would become an “unstoppable march to peace (between two countries). It was violently disrupted by Pakistan by its terror attacks in India. The 26/11 is the horrendous chapter in our history. That changed the grammar of the relations between two countries from peace to hostility.

There must have been some reason for the Indian Army to claim that 2018 was a remarkable year. More than 250 militants were killed last year. But in the overall matrix of the Kashmir situation, Pakistan would have to stop terror and export goodwill to make things work.

The Kartarpur corridor has laid a new path, but it needs to be stretched from neighbouring Punjab to Jammu and Kashmir through the diplomatic finesse that both countries possess.

Courtesy:The Tribune,Jan,28,2019