Neighbour
which according to the then Indian Army Chief , Gen S Padmanabhan , reduced by an all-time high of 53 per cent . Only after Musharraf lost both his jobs in 2007-08 , did Mumbai happen . But both sides had missed an opportunity which emerged from talks .
The third BJP-led NDA Government holds the dubious record of not engaging Pakistan in any structured dialogue in all its five years in office . Not for want of trying but due to imposing avoidable conditionalities such as Pakistan interlocutors not meeting the Hurriyat . The last recorded official conversation with Pakistan was in mid-2012 as the engagement process was derailed by the beheading of an Indian soldier on the Line of Control ( LoC ) in January 2013 . Till then , three rounds of talks were held under the new Resumed Dialogue , started in 2011 following the India- Pakistan summit at Sharm El-Sheikh in 2009 . Barbarity on LoC became the red line for disrupting talks under the UPA regime even if it was one soldier lost — public opinion had become so powerful .
When Modi tried to befriend Nawaz Sharif in 2015 , it led to Pathankot and despite it , Modi allowed an ISI-led team to investigate the Jaish-e Mohammad attack . Uri and Pulwama sealed the fate of any structured dialogue ; though
38 Legacy India | June 2019 three rounds of Kartarpur corridor have taken place . Given the international opprobrium arising from Pulwama , Pakistan ’ s greylisting at FATF , its dire state of economy and even China yielding to pressure on listing of Masood Azhar on UN ’ s 1267 sanctions list , it is fair to believe that ISI has put on leash its strategic assets , as it had done following Mumbai , against conducting any high casualty terrorist attacks in Jammu & Kashmir and elsewhere in India . Mumbai happened seven years after Operation Parakram and Pulwama 10 years after Mumbai . The average ‘ leash-cycle ’ of
terrorists is eight years .
Unlike Nawaz Sharif , Khan is untested in his zeal and devotion to the peace process . The Pakistan Army ’ s readiness
to overcome its need for an existential threat from India holds the key to longevity of any outcome-related dialogue process . That is why it is vital
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