The political turmoil in Pakistan spells more trouble for the already strained bilateral relations between Islamabad and New Delhi. The Pakistan Supreme Court’s decision on Thursday to order a special investigation team to probe allegations of graft against PM Nawaz Sharif and his family comes at a time when Kashmir is on the boil due to Pakistan’s perfidy. The ruling follows the Panama Papers leak in 2015 in which Sharif’s sons Hussein and Hassan and daughter Maryam were named for holding stakes in dubious offshore companies.
Sharif, a businessman serving his third term as PM, has already had run-ins with the all-powerful Pakistan Army, which views with suspicion his willingness to do business with India. In October last year, the Dawn reported in a front page article about a spat between the civilian government and the military over the growing international isolation of Pakistan due to its support for terror. But the military refused to dial down its involvement in Kashmir, and under the new army chief, revised its strategy to try and convince the world that the Kashmiri uprising is a domestic one. Among other things, this involves encouraging, or even forcing local students to join the militancy, aggressively using social media, including fake videos, to foment unrest, and in a first, threatening the families of security forces, which are already acting with extreme restraint to avoid charges of human rights violations. And then there’s the dragon, which wants to change the status quo in J&K, since the crucial China–Pakistan Economic Corridor passes through PoK, undermining its credibility in the eyes of the world.
As if all this wasn’t enough, at a time when the government is grappling with alienated youngsters in the Valley, there are reports of Kashmiris being attacked in Rajasthan, while a fringe loony outfit in Uttar Pradesh has put up banners posters warning Kashmiris to leave the state. No matter which way we slice it, it’s going to be a long hot summer in the Valley.