The Indian assessment on the recent Kartarpur ceremony has been summed up by a journalist who has visited Pakistan over decades. In his opinion, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s intentions are unclear and don’t matter. This would be correct if we read only the politics behind the ceremony and ignore the muscle power behind Khan’s utterances for peace with India. But, when assessing Pakistan’s political intentions, the muscle power and the views of the institution that wields it — the Pakistan Army — matters.

There is little argument that the present dispensation in Pakistan is unique. Imran Khan, truth be told, owes and holds his office at the pleasure of his army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa. Now, it was Bajwa who — in the presence of his supposed boss, Imran Khan — first broke the news on the Kartarpur corridor to the Indian minister, Navjot Singh Sidhu, which led to the hug between the two. The pertinent issue was that Bajwa took that initiative because he wants peace with India. Instead of thinking deeply on this development, New Delhi and its mostly jingoistic media threw a fit on why Sidhu hugged the enemy who is directly responsible for terrorism in India.


There are several reasons why Bajwa wants peace with India. One, he is under Chinese pressure to do so; two, he wants to show the world, especially the US in order to recover the blocked aid of USD three billion — that India is the spoiler; three, he agrees with his government’s main concern that trade should be Pakistan’s priority when its economy is in doldrums; four, he has assessed that he would be negotiating with India from a position of military strength; and five, he is on top of the Kashmir situation. He has unambiguously conveyed to India that nothing short of talks on Kashmir resolution (alongside other irritants) would get the peace process moving. The time for confidence-building measures is long gone.