Can?t Take Pak at Face Value

On February 24, 2021, the Director General’s of Military Operations (DGsMO) of India and Pakistan jointly recommitted to a ceasefire along the Line of Control (LOC) and International Border (IB) that was first declared in 2003. “In the interest of achieving mutually beneficial and sustainable peace along the borders, the two DGsMO agreed to address each other’s core issues and concerns which have the propensity to disturb the peace and lead to violence,” the joint statement read. Interestingly, the statement came on the second anniversary of the airstrike by the Indian Air Force on terrorist bases in Pakistan, also referred to as the Balakot airstrike.

 

This re-commitment brings in its wake both relief and scepticism. Relief, since it heralds a thaw, however slight, in the otherwise acrimonious relations between the two countries. It will give a respite to the people living in both countries’ border areas. Scepticism, since such assurances have come by a number of times earlier, only to be broken within a time frame ranging from a few days to a few months. The only time that the ceasefire actually held in letter and spirit for a sustained period of time was from 2003 to 2006, when both sides fired not a single bullet.

 

There is talk of some back-channel activity leading to the ceasefire. Some Indian media reports speak of the same being an outcome of a meeting between the Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval with his Pakistani counterpart Moeed Yusuf in a third country. Moeed Yusuf, however, has categorically denied such a meeting. “I have seen claims by Indian media that attribute today’s ceasefire announcement between Pakistani and Indian DGMOs to back-channel diplomacy between me and the Indian NSA. This is baseless. No such talks have taken place between me and Mr Doval,” he says in a tweet.