WASHINGTON: US president-elect Donald Trump should develop clearer US policies to ease strains between Pakistan and India, senior analysts said at a discussion at the US Institute of Peace (USIP).
The participants discussed the escalation across the Line of Control (LoC) that further strained ties between the two countries. Two of the analysts, taking part in the discussion, stated that relations between India and Pakistan were becoming less predictable as nationalist sentiments in India heighten political pressure there to escalate its response to clashes in the disputed territory.
“The fear of direct military conflict is real,” said Shamila Chaudhry, a former Pakistan director at the US National Security Council, referring to the attacks in the Indian-held valley, which India blamed on Pakistan.
She said that every new administration wanted to solve the India-Pakistan standoff, a possibility that Trump and his vice president-elect Mike Pence had indicated in recent months.
She was, however, of the opinion that it was not going to work, and added that more modest goals for the upcoming administration could be to consolidate or better coordinate US policymaking on India and Pakistan.
Shamila Chaudhry suggested strengthening private diplomacy to build communication between the countries and limiting public statements, which “don’t work well in the region”. Speaking on the ties between the US and Pakistan, Sameer Lalwani, deputy director of the South Asia Programme at the Stimson Centre, said that although the United States had slashed aid to Pakistan, Washington still needed a working relationship with Pakistani authorities, a USIP statement on the discussion said.
