India needs to give up militarised approach to Kashmir issue for solution, says Pak editorial

Islamabad, Feb 16: The ever-strained relationship between India and Pakistan saw a new low again this week after a suicide terror attack in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir on February 14 left over 40 jawans dead. The Indian establishment along with the entire nation were livid with the tragedy and sought revenge against the neighbours.

Among the first steps, India withdrew its Most-Favoured Nation status granted to Pakistan more than two decades ago. It also vowed to isolate Pakistan in the international community.

Pakistan denied the charges of having any link with the attacks and condemned the attack, saying it was a "matter of grave concern". Both nations summoned each other's envoys to express their displeasure.

Pakistan's leading daily Dawn came up with an editorial saying Pakistan tried to reach out to successive governments in New Delhi a number of times to engage in dialogues and accused the latter of not reciprocating.

According to it, Delhi "has more often than not jumped to its own conclusions".

Pakistan has tried to reach out to India time and again but didn't find response, says op-ed

"Unfortunately, this has become a never-ending cycle of blame games, rebuttals and denials - with no joint engagement to understand the cause of the violence. To Pakistan's credit, although it has vowed political, moral and diplomatic support for the Kashmiris, successive governments have at least attempted to reach out to India - several times - to engage in talks, but there has been no reciprocal gesture from Delhi, which has more often than not jumped to its own conclusions," it said.

The op-ed further asked India to provide evidence to Pakistan that non-state actors are using the latter's soil to target others for Islamabad to conduct probe. It said in the absence of such cooperation, a solution was unlikely to be reached.

It said the young suicide bomber, Adil Ahmad Dar, who carried out the Pulwama disaster was a native of "India-occupied Kashmir" and alleged that India's string-arm tactics in the region have alienated the local people who it said: "had no need of outside help to vent their anger and frustration".

'Atrocities unleashed by Indian military machine'

"Young Kashmiris are taking up the gun and attacking symbols of the Indian establishment. They have been met with a hail of bullets but have not been deterred. There have been several instances of students, academics and intellectuals choosing the path of armed struggle, mainly because they see no other way to resist the atrocities unleashed by the Indian military machine."

The piece said that till the time New Delhi did not give up its militarised approach to the Kashmir issue, there is little chance of violence subsiding.