Army tightening grip on Pak parties

India’s assessment based on Nawaz Sharif government’s reaction to Dawn report.

The Indian government’s assessment seems to be that the Pakistan Army has tightened its hold on the Nawaz Sharif-government following the publication of an article in the country’s Dawn newspaper, which had highlighted the rift between the civilian government and military there over the issue of support to terror groups.

This is bad news for India, sources said. The fact that Pakistan PMO seemed to have made changes in its reaction on the newspaper’s report within a matter of a few hours showed the pressure it was under, sources in the Indian government said.

While Pakistan PMO was believed to have initially conceded Dawn’s article as “half-truths and fiction”, Mr Sharif’s office later rejected the report completely. Sources here said this showed that the Pakistan Army was steadfast on its path of hostility towards India, despite Pakistan’s diplomatic isolation which indicates that there could be calibrated escalation of hostilities on the LoC in the form of shelling or an attempt to stage a massive terror strike on Indian assets either near the LoC or on the Kashmir’s hinterland, or even on Indian missions in Afghanistan, the last of which could be seen as a soft target since Pakistan-backed groups have repeatedly tried to target the missions in Kabul and other cities of Afghanistan over the past several years.

With Pakistan Army chief Gen. Raheel Sharif scheduled to retire in November, India is taking no chances.

Sources said that with Islamabad having been isolated diplomatically in Saarc with Western nations not hardly displaying much sympathy for the neighbouring country, it is up to Pakistan to realise it has to change its path.

India has already brought to bear a mix of diplomatic and military pressure on Pakistan in the form of active diplomacy, review of both the 1960 Indus Water Treaty and most favoured nation status to Pakistan, and surgical strikes in PoK.