Hope For New Era In India-Pakistan Relations

Pakistani security establishment arrested militants belonging to banned extremist outfit Jaish e Mohammad while sealing their offices on intelligence provided by India regards the Pathankot Airbase terrorist attack in India. Pakistani government is now offering India to not only cooperate in the Pathankot Airbase attack, but also send over an investigative team to assist the probe. This is the first incident of cooperation as such in the entire history of both the countries who are arch rivals with respective nuclear arsenals targeted at each other after having fought three all out wars. This small beginning is a big historical leap forward in the bilateral relations between India and Pakistan which is marked by violence and tragedy thus far.

To top it off, the Pakistani government after a joint session of political and military leadership announced the policy decision to take action against all sort of non state actors using the Pakistani soil to launch terrorist activities against a foreign country. The emphasis is obviously on militant groups targeting India which is an unprecedented policy call by Pakistan with her security establishment fully on board.

 Pakistani policy gurus are realizing the changing global geopolitics and power dynamics where the future of global economy is based on business in Asia pacific. Pakistan after suffering immensely from the menace of terrorism and religious extremism for more then four decades now realizes the importance of building a fluid economy based on peace which would lead to prosperity for her masses. Pakistan with its humongous population needs to economically grow at the rate of 10% every year to sustain its young population which includes over 100 million youth under the age of twenty five years. All these Pakistanis need education, jobs and livelihood, which can only be provided through a vibrant economy. Failing in this task is simply not an option for Pakistan who needs to fully realize and en cash her Geo strategic potential in the current and near future of global economy essentially based on the Asian pacific region.

While the future looks bright for Pakistan with the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor(CPEC) and related infrastructure investments in the Pakistani economy, the whole project may never realize its optimum potential without the mega economies of India and Iran on board. It is the ardent wish of the Chinese leadership to link the CPEC with the Indian market and in time also with the Iran. Only a stable and peaceful India-Pakistan bilateral relationship can ensure the stated Chinese endeavor to take effect. Success of the recent strategic business deals like TAPI (Tajikistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) and IPI (Iran-Pakistan-India) gas pipelines and the Indian desire to be granted road access to Afghanistan via Pakistan all hinges upon the establishment of durable peace between India and Pakistan.

Non state actors, both in India and Pakistan who have thrived over decades profiting from the traditional animosity between India and Pakistan views any peaceful development between both these countries as detrimental to their existence and profiteering based on politics of hate which sells easily in both the countries. Both Indian and Pakistani States have invested huge amount of finances in proxy wars against each other which is the principal source of funding and profiteering of these non state actors. Militant mercenary groups like Taliban for example and various splinter groups as such operating on the Afghan soil takes money from both sides to carry out subversive activities against the other side in this proxy play of power. It is not in the interest of such criminal terrorist outfits to allow any substantial peace accord to take place between India and Pakistan. The old school powerful intelligence spooks and their lackeys also find such a situation where India and Pakistan are working together in Afghanistan and the region for peace and prosperity, too hard to digest. They are the medium through which the humongous amount of subversive proxy war money is distributed to the mercenary outfits with considerable cuts for themselves.

Policy decision by the top Pakistani security and political establishment calls upon the Indian counterparts to respond positively by plugging the rat holes through which the self styled hate mongers are profiteering from the policy of hate and proxy wars between the nuclear armed neighborhood. An expected positive response by India would usher both India and Pakistan into a new era of bilateral cooperation where all issues of mutual distrust may be addressed one step at a time. The ultimate beneficiaries of such an enterprise would be the general public of India and Pakistan with far reaching positive impact for the entire region. The forces opposed to such a progress are powerful and vicious but holds no ground against the joint resolve if established between India and Pakistan to counter them.

The global community including the west led by the USA would welcome any and all such endeavors towards Indo-Pak peace which essentially eases the tensions in the most alarming global nuclear flash point. Although there are miles to go before any substantial outcome regards the durable peace between India and Pakistan, a start in the rite direction is what the Pakistani side has embarked upon. The ball lies in the Indian court now and Pakistan expects a positive response while constructing upon a solid resolve at her end to take upon all opposition which may stand against peace which would lead to prosperity of all Pakistanis. Resolution of all outstanding disputes with one step at a time starting with the most alarming issue of terrorism is the call from Pakistan in response to Indian desire as such.... Its the turn of India to respond, and that response would decide the future course of action....signing off, fingers crossed.                             

Iran-Saudi Arabia Conflict-Age Old War For Influence At Middle East. Published in 2017

Sectarianism forms the basis of the Iranian-Saudi conflict for influence that has spread geographically in the Middle East, but ideologically over the complete globe. It is a conflict spearheaded by the Shia and Sunni sect's clergy of Islam backed by the respective political/ruling elite. Ever since the Imam Khomeini led revolution in Iran toppled the monarchy of there in 1979, the new Iranian revolutionary leadership took the Arab monarchies to task. The House of Saud that rules Saudi Arabia has been repeatedly questioned and challenged over the legitimacy of their rule by Iran. Iran happens to be a controlled democracy under the Shia religious clergy and its revolutionary nature of politics provides a natural inclination for the Iranian people and leadership to attack the old school Arab monarchies led by the House of Saud. Iran and Saudi Arabia both gains strength from the sectarian divide in the Muslim world and they each exploit this divide to the best of their respective advantages. Both countries are engaged in a proxy war starting from the 1980s Iran-Iraq war, where Iraq was supported by the Saudi Arabian money. Iran responded by providing material and political support to Shia militant and political outfits in the whole of the Middle East.

Geopolitics has a great role to play in this conflict as well. Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Arab monarchies are an age old ally of the western world led by the USA. Iran is parked in the Russian camp after the revolution in 1979 when they took a U-turn on the foreign policy. That was the time, it can be confidently said that reason was over taken by emotions and the sectarian strife took its bloody roots in the Middle East causing death and destruction in complete region. Imam Khomeini took the initiative in this war calling an end to the Wahhabi Sunni House of Saud's hold on the Muslim holy lands of Mecca and Medina. Saudi Arabia responded by providing billions of dollars to Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s which bled Iran like nothing else ever could.

The relations between both of these giants of the Middle East remained a roller coaster ride ever since, with numerous tragedies. Both Iran and KSA fought their proxy wars in countries like Yemen, Lebanon and Pakistan causing immense disastrous results for these countries. In their blind sighted hatred for each other they funded sectarian militancy and hatred in the complete Muslim world. Both Iran and Saudi Arabia are theocracies thriving on extremist trends where hatred and violence takes priority over reason and peace and they resort to using false pride and propaganda to promote their respective view points.

In this conflict for influence in the Middle East, Iran at times gains strength in her argument over lack of transparency, democracy and human rights abuses in the Arab world. Arab monarchies would do everything in their power to maintain their hold on their kingdoms, regardless of it being at the cost of innocent blood and the suppression of basic human rights. Iran also hardly complies to freedom of expression or human rights too. The Arab monarchies are able to successfully sell their argument that Iran is an autocracy led by Shia theocratic leadership spreading hate and enforcing their ideology to the rest of the Middle East.

Recently the beheading of the prominent Saudi Shia cleric Nimr Al Nimr by Saudi Arabia caused widespread protests essentially by the global Shia population. There is a consensus in the Muslim world, irrespective of the sectarian divide that this extreme Saudi measure was uncalled for and the House of Saud killed Nimr Al Nimr along with some forty other Saudis. These were mostly Sunnis killed for raising legitimate questions challenging the Saudi monarchy unnerving the royals. The House of Saud is conducting its business in historic tribal traditions which can not be defended in the modern world. The Saudi recklessness only strengthened the Iranian school of thought. While diplomatic ties are severed between both the countries, another proxy war is on the horizon in the Muslim world which would further deepen the sectarian fault lines.

The stance of Muslim military power houses of Pakistan and Turkey would define the intensity of the upcoming sectarian war in the Middle East. Pakistan and Turkey are expected to stay neutral as usual however with guarantees to protect the Muslim holy lands of Mecca and Medina against any kind of foreign aggression. In the end, it will be restricted to the sectarian proxy wars satisfying the egos of the Iranian and Saudi leadership. In this process lot of innocent blood will be spilled around the Middle East. The Saudi and Iranian respective spheres of influences will not be challenged despite all this bloodshed. So fighting to gain authority over each other will not be successful. Loss of life, a wastage of money and resources are just a few of the disadvantages and inconveniences to be expected if such a scenario develops. The only thing that could possibly be achieved with this carnage is a huge stroking of egos of these two playground bullies.