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This story is from January 13, 2022

Pakistan security policy seeks 100 years of peace with India, but with caveat

Pakistan’s new national security policy seeks peace with India, apparently no hostility for the next 100 years, and also doesn’t rule out normalisation of trade and economic ties without waiting for a final resolution of the Kashmir issue “provided there is progress in the talks” between the two countries.
Pakistan security policy seeks 100 years of peace with India, but with caveat
NEW DELHI: Pakistan’s new national security policy seeks peace with India, apparently no hostility for the next 100 years, and also doesn’t rule out normalisation of trade and economic ties without waiting for a final resolution of the Kashmir issue “provided there is progress in the talks” between the two countries.
The first of its kind “codified” policy, which focuses on both internal and foreign issues, will be released by Pakistan PM Imran Khan on Friday.

Pakistan had downgraded ties with India and stalled trade after the latter revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s special status in 2019. Islamabad last year further reneged on its promise to reopen imports from India, saying that it would be impossible to normalise ties if India didn’t reconsider its August 5, 2019, decision to reorganise Jammu and Kashmir.
The new national security policy seems in line with Pakistan army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa’s call in the past to “bury the past” and focus on geoeconomics in foreign policy. It’s not yet clear though if Pakistan is ready to reconsider its own demands from India on the Kashmir issue, namely a promise to not carry out demographic changes and restoration of full statehood. TOI has learnt from diplomatic sources that Pakistan is still adamant India fulfil these “conditions” for any substantive engagement between the two countries. For India though, as the government has repeatedly stated, it’s important that Pakistan first stop supporting cross-border terrorism.
A Pakistan media report, in fact, quoted an anonymous Pakistan official as saying that there were no prospects of rapprochement with India under the current Modi-led government in New Delhi. Even before the reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir, in 2014-2015, Pakistan had refrained from granting India MFN status after apparently having considered it for a while.
The new policy is said to call for focus on economic diplomacy in the immediate neighbourhood apparently in the long-term and doesn’t advocate any conclusive measures in ties with any particular country.
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