As next door neighbors, India and Pakistan cannot disengage themselves from one another. Exchange of fire across the borders is ‘not so silent’ form of dialogue between the two countries. When the 2015 terror talks were called off by Pakistan at the last minute, both sides lost the opportunity to take the dialogue forward. But it hardly mattered because the DGMO (Director General of Military Operations) meeting was held as scheduled. Whether this will make the LOC quieter, only time can unravel. Modi’s “muscular” approach towards Pakistan (and China) is a clear departure from the recent past. Will it work? Will it make any material difference to the ground realities in the bilateral equation? The past policies did not work anyway. India must learn to live with the enduring hostility of Pakistan’s military and intelligence establishment, which determines the country’s policy and posture towards India in general and Jammu and Kashmir in particular. The civilian authority is constrained to go along. The moral of the story is: ‘What cannot be cured must be endured.’

One can choose his friends and also how friendly one wants to be with whom. When it comes to relatives the choice is restricted by the links of blood and lineage. However, one can talk of them in relative terms—close and distant, those in touch and those out of touch. But when it comes to neighbors, there is no choice. India and Pakistan are next door neighbors and they have to learn to live with each other. How peacefully or how acrimoniously or a varying mix of the two depends upon a multiplicity of factors, causes and consequences. In the case of India and Pakistan, the equation is complicated by shared past and the Partition, wars and ceasefires, memories, competition and cooperation. The passage of time has naturally toned down the strong emotional overtones of the elders. The rise of new generations of leaders to power in the two countries has transformed the bilateral equation in many ways, whose contours are yet to be understood fully. The old hangs on and the new is yet to be in full command. Normally, passage of 70 years is a long time. Yet, it is rather short in the long history of ancient civilizations.

As far as India and Pakistan are concerned talking, calling off the talks and resuming talks again and yet again are the eternal and recurring realities in the bilateral equation. The two countries are inextricably engaged with one another forever. They neither can escape nor opt out. Exchange of bullets and mortars across the LOC and the international borders is to be seen as not so silent form of a dialogue! They also convey the language of hate and revenge. One side shoots and other side gives a fitting reply, is the deafening refrain! In the bargain, soldiers of the two sides and innocent Kashmiris living on both sides of the border have become the unfortunate victims forever. I often wonder how such mayhem is supposed to win the sympathy and loyalty of Kashmiris for Pakistan. This is something of a puzzle because over the years and decades the people living in the border areas are getting sick and tired of the unprovoked and indiscriminate firing and heavy mortar shelling from the Pakistani side. But habits die hard and established practices have a life of their own. Things go on and on for want of better alternatives.

International Relations Journal, The Enduring Challenge, Dialogue with Pakistan