Till General Elections In India, No Peace Overture Likely To Be Considered: President AJK

Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan on Wednesday said that India had abandoned all principles of proportionality and precaution; and the distinction between combatants and non-combatants was being flagrantly violated.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th Dec, 2018 ) :Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan on Wednesday said that India had abandoned all principles of proportionality and precaution; and the distinction between combatants and non-combatants was being flagrantly violated.

In his keynote speech as chief guest at a two-day International Conference on Conflict and Cooperation in South Asia: Role of Major Powers, sharing the situation in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK), he cautioned that till the general elections in India, no peace overtures are likely to be considered.

The AJK President also emphasised that China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has helped bring the Kashmir dispute back on the world stage given India's hostility to the project. However, CPEC should be treated as a catalyst and not as a substitute or panacea for Pakistan's internal economic development, he said.

'Start thinking of CPEC in terms of CPEC-Plus wherein social sector development, especially Goal 4 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) about provision of quality education is prioritised', he commended.

He also emphasised leveraging the strength of Pakistan's diaspora in the middle East, Europe and US which now has considerable political traction, in order to reap huge dividends for the country on critical political and economic issues.

Earlier in the day, discussing geopolitics of South Asia and interests of the US, Harrison Akins, Research Fellow, University of Tennessee's Howard H. Baker Jr., Center for Public Policy, US, said that 'Without the input of foreign policy professionals, it appears that the Trump administration has difficulty in fully understanding the foreign policy implications of his actions, such as connecting his bullying rhetoric and policies toward Pakistan with his increase of troop presence in Afghanistan, with the strong relationship with Pakistan a key part of any Afghan strategy of the United States.' Dr Liu Zongyi, Research Fellow from the Institute for World Economic Studies and Centre for Asia Pacific Studies, Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (SIIR), China was of the view that even though the BRI has stimulated South Asian regional connectivity, India has adopted opposing, delaying and hedging measures towards different parts of the BRI.

Discussing geopolitics of South Asia and interests of Russia, Leonid Savin, Founder and Chief Editor of Journal of Eurasian Affairs, Russia, argued that since Pakistan has taken a position of sovereignty and denied its critics in Washington, it has aroused considerable interest from Russia as an emergent power. 'This window of opportunity can be favourably used by two parties.

Dr Maria Sultan, Director General, South Asian Strategic Stability Institute (SASSI), Pakistan opined that all trends indicate that the Indian Ocean will not only become the centre of economic development, but also a region of great power rivalry along with other extra regional actors' desire to dominate the region's maritime sea routes as economic interests will dominate the security projections for this region, making IOR 'the most securitized ocean in the world.' In the session 'From Geopolitics to Geoeconomics' chaired by Ambassador (R) Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, Director General, Institute for Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI), Pakistan, Dr Huma Baqai, Associate Dean, Social Sciences and Liberal Arts, Institute of business Administration, Pakistan discussed that the winds of emerging global trends are in flux, swaying more eastwards than before. 'Relative wealth and economic power continues to shift favourably from the West towards the East', she said. However, she was of the opinion that 'geopolitics will continue to remain in South Asia and other parts of the world with its core ingredients - space, territory, territoriality, and power.

In her paper on Sino-US geo-political competition and implications for Pakistan, Dr Sarwat Rauf, Associate Professor, Department of International Relations, National University of Modern Languages (NUML), Pakistan urged that internally, Pakistan should focus on its economic development, especially industrial development. 'Externally, Pakistan should continue to strengthen its relations with China, and find solutions of the existing irritants in relations with Iran and Afghanistan since mistrust is hinderingthe region's progress.

Concluding the two days conference, Brig (R) Mohammad Mehboob Qadir, Acting President, IPRI thanked the President AJK H.E. Sardar Masood Khan, speakers from various countries, participants and the media for an interactive and productive event.