“If you take one step forward, we will take two steps forward,” Mr. Khan said in his victory speech, addressing India “We need to move ahead.” Mr. Imran Khan, who has been recently elected as new Prime Minister of Pakistan seems too desperate to get an instant closeness with India.
Acting in the same direction on November 28, 2018 he has laid foundation of visa free kartarpur corridor. This corridor will allow Sikh religious devotees from India to visit the Gurdwara in Kartarpur, from the Pakistan-India border, without a visa. The Kartarpur Gurdwara is one of the holiest places of Sikh Community. It’s believed to have been built on the site where Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh religion, died in the 16th Century. Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told the BBC the Kartarpur project would help improve the countries’ relationship.
No doubt this is really an appreciable effort for Sikh pilgrimage, but everyone must understand that opening of this road alone can not lead to a peace talk between both nations. As our External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said “There will be no dialogue with Pakistan unless it desists from terrorist activities against India”.
This is not the first time in history of India-Pakistan, when intimacy talks are going on. In 1999, our Late Prime Minister Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee had made a significant diplomatic breakthrough and traveled on a bus from Amritsar to Lahore. That move was also seen as a new dawn of relationship between both countries. But unfortunately it resulted into Kargil war.
Pakistan has a long and dark history of backstabbing India, how could they even think that they will open one road and everything will start falling on place? India has always been a soft target for them. We have lost thousands of our soldiers in India-Pakistan border war, at least three times since Independence. Look at Kashmir now, what is happening there on behest of Pakistan?
Pakistan is a nation, which has been built on extremism, so how it could remain in peace. Its foundation (India-Pakistan Division in 1947) was held on butchering and killing of millions of innocent people. A country which has always been home to underworlds and terrorists (Al-Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Omar, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Sipah-e-Sahaba). Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was the one who gave us 26/11, whose dreadful memories are still alive in our hearts.
Merely changing the face of it’s leader, one can not change the truth and history of that country. Now what is really concerning, that a country full of communal ism has suddenly become too desperate to obtain a democratic outlook. And to understand the real motive of Pakistan’s desperation for a softer outlook, we must dig little deeper.
Pakistan’s economy is going through a very critical situation. Foreign debt has nearly reached to US$ 95 billion. Global monetary tightening, increased oil prices and reduced investor confidence have negatively impacted the country’s economic situation. Since decades, Pakistan has been reaping the benefit of U.S. Coalition Support Fund, $1.2 billion per year till date. But now Trump government has decided to cut $300 millions aid to Pakistan accusing of indolence regarding terror. And apart from $300 million, $500 million Coalition Support Fund was also stripped by the US congress from Pakistan earlier this year, thus a total withdraw of $850 million.
“The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools,” Trump tweeted at the start of the year. “They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!”
Chinese investment is also cited as the major cause of Pakistan’s debt crisis. As China’s BRI makes Pakistan a key partner through the shared CPEC (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor) .The CPEC is a $60 billion program of infrastructure, energy and communication projects that has placed a greater debt on Pakistan in the name of improvement as their basic infrastructure is mismanaged.
Now after losing aids from USA and mismanaged CPEC deal with China, both have pushed Pakistan towards a very difficult economic situation. So right now, Pakistan is in a huge debt of money and credibility. It’s a very critical time for Pakistan regarding its own stability and development. That’s why it is trying to enhance its image globally in different diplomatic way and Kartarpur corridor seems a perfect fit.
