More Pak mischief ahead

If in a rush of pointless diplomatic enthusiasm, Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif dedicated his country’s Independence Day this year to the “freedom” of Kashmir, it is little surprise that in his message on Tuesday on the occasion of Id-ul Zuha, the annual Islamic remembrance of sacrifice, he dedicated this year’s Id to the “supreme sacrifices of Kashmiris”. It is evident that Pakistan’s emphasis on seeking to internationalise Kashmir is unlikely to be short-lived this time. A key reason is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reference to the situation in Balochistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir is this year’s Independence Day address. This seems to have stirred all the demons together in the Pakistani establishment.

We should expect Islamabad will leave no stone unturned to get the Organisation of Islamic Conference to once again take up the Kashmir issue. While Prime Minister Sharif is not an anti-India hawk, his room for manoeuvre in his nation’s domestic politics has shrunk of late and he has personally lost out in the civilian-military dynamics after the revelations relating to members of his family in the recently-disclosed Panama Papers.

This means the Pakistan PM has no option but to take the cue from his country’s Army Chief, Gen. Raheel Sharif, who made it clear that the Kashmir question will receive disproportionate attention on the Paksitan side in the days to come. This also fits in with the agenda of Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, the anti-India terrorist outfits nurtured by the ISI, which Mr Sharif dare not ignore.