I have less faith on my army that you have on yours, Sharif told Manmohan Singh in New York

In a sensational disclosure kept under wraps so far by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif said he had less faith in the Pakistan Army than India when the two met in New York last month on the sidelines of UN General Assembly.

The remark was not in jest but came in the course of an intense discussion between the two premiers during their one-hour meeting on September 29. Sharif’s remarks were reported in a ‘Record of Discussion’ (RoD) made by the prime minister’s aides and compiled by the Prime Minister’s Office to be shared with top government functionaries of the Indian government.

Mail Today has accessed this document. Sources say that discussions provide insights into the meeting of the prime ministers in the New York Palace Hotel’s fourth floor Stanford Room. The meeting happened amid a tense standoff, and Sharif repeatedly tried hard to push for dialogue between the foreign offices of the two countries first before involving the Pakistan Army in resolving the standoff on the Line of Control.

The revelation comes on a day when the tensions between the two countries have escalated; a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) was killed on October 28 during a cease-fire violation by Pakistan in the Uri sector of north Kashmir. The firing took place on the wee hours of Monday when troops of the Indian Army’s 8 Kumaon regiment were patrolling along the LoC in Uri sector, 120 km northwest of Srinagar.

An Army official said that an area domination patrol party came under firing from the Pakistan side after midnight at 12.15 am on Monday leading to the death of the JCO, Prakash Chander, of Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand.

Officials said the Army didn’t retaliate but lodged a protest with the Pakistani Army over a hotline.

Violation

It is apparent, however, that Pakistani assurances are not translating into action. On Saturday, India had slammed Pakistan for claiming that it had not been given adequate evidence on the 26/11 attacks, where Islamabad is yet to bring the perpetrators of the 2008 attacks to justice.

The ceasefire violation took place at Bhim post near Kaman Bridge, the place where the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus crosses the LoC. Last week, a BSF soldier was killed and six others wounded after Pakistani troops fired at 50 Indian posts along the International Border in Jammu.

There has been a steep rise in cease-fire violations along the LoC and the International Border in Jammu and Kashmir in past few weeks. Officials say over 135 ceasefire violations have been reported in 2013, the highest in the last eight years.

At the New York meeting, the conversation began with Sharif clearing the air on the dehati aurat controversy that had broken out earlier in the day. The RoD notes that Sharif pushed for talks led by the foreign office but Singh stuck to his guns that the talks cannot be held between the civilian officials.

NY meeting

Sharif again revised his proposal and suggested that talks can be at the level of the Director General of Military Operations and the Foreign Office, which was also declined by Singh.

It was then that the Indian Prime Minister repeated his assertion that those who have caused the incidents on the Line of Control and the International Border will have to resolve it, and that militaries both countries should be involved. It was then Sharif signed off with the remark reposing mistrust in his own army, telling Singh that India had more faith in their capabilities than he did.

The remark is significant because it revealed that Sharif continues to struggle with a powerful army at home. It is also a reassertion that India will have to deal with multiple power centres in Pakistan, even more significant in the present context when the pressure is on Sharif to give a powerful postretirement role to his hard-line Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani, who wants to handle the Kashmir and Afghanistan affairs as National Security Advisor and control Sharif’s foreign and strategic policy. Sharif also raised the issue of Baluchistan to which Manmohan responded that no evidence has been handed over by Pakistan on this accusation which has been leveled earlier as well.

Response

Last week on his way back from the summit meetings in Russia and China, Manmohan expressed his disappointment at the happenings on the LoC. “Let me say that I am disappointed, because in the New York meeting, there was a general agreement on both the sides that peace and tranquillity should be maintained on the border, on the Line of Control as well as on the international border and this has not happened.”

Nawaz’s statement exposes the fissures in the Pakistan establishment, but it also brings to the fore Nawaz’s Janus faced approach as he is neither willing nor capable of reining in the army, but he is willing to run down his own army to showcase to the international community that he holds the reins of power in Pakistan.

Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/nawaz-sharif-belittles-own-army/1/320670.html

Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/nawaz-sharif-belittles-own-army/1/320670.html