In a recent interview with the Voice of America, Defense Minister of Pakistan, Khurram Dastgir Khan, spoke about his opinion on the current relationship between India and Pakistan. Dastgir recollected the recent political union between North Korea and South Korea, and contemplated that if India and Pakistan were to ever achieve something like that, it would require the intense political courage to “transcend the past”, and the decision would definitely have to be mutual.
However, Dastgir went on to explain that even if Pakistan breeds the possibility to choose the decision for the possible political partnership, India is expected to show a higher resistance.
Referring to 2014, when the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, had arrived in New Delhi on a historic visit to preside over the inauguration of Narendra Modi as the Indian Prime Minister, Dastgir explains how the ideal relationship between the two countries should be. Remembering Sharif who had not let the years of political hostility come between his travels, India should take a step towards interacting with Pakistan positively as well.
Khurram, however, revealed that since 2014, India has developed an aggressive stance towards Pakistan, which is highly threatening to the regional stability of both countries. He also confessed to the VOA about the political consensus which had been mutually developed among all Pakistani stakeholders. This consensus stood for a peaceful political and economic relationship with India. Khurram Dastgir explained how none of the political parties in his country had stood on an anti-India platform to procure the votes. Even during their previous elections, all the Pakistani parties vouched for a peaceful relationship between the two counties. New Delhi, however, lost this unique moment in Pakistani history to take a step towards mutual peace.
An anti-terrorism drill in 2018 organized by the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, which calls for the participation of the two countries is, however, expected to improve the bilateral relationship between India and Pakistan. If everything goes according to plan, relations between the two countries are expected to improve before 2019.