Lately, a big political upheaval took place in our neighborhood. Imran Khan’s government has fallen in Pakistan. With this, the political turmoil that has been going on for almost a month has reached its culmination. Shahbaz Sharif, the leader of PML-N, has taken an oath as the new Prime Minister of Pakistan. The relations between India and Pakistan had deteriorated during the tenure of Imran Khan. Now, a new government has come into power. So, it becomes important for us to look at this matter from an Indian frame.
How does India look at Imran’s defeat?
Imran Khan’s departure through the opposition’s no-confidence motion is considered an important event in Pakistan. Imran neither comes from Pakistan’s mainstream party Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz ie PML-N nor Pakistan People’s Party ie PPP.
Imran made a lot of promises before coming to power. However, soon, this proved to be mere eyewash as he became unpopular with each passing day.
The army played an important role in Imran’s election. With such events, the people’s trust in the army was also get affected. It is believed that the army will now interfere less in the work of the new government. Such political development is very important for India.
However, after the recent changes, it is apparent that no political party can survive in the power of Pakistan without the support of the army.
Recently, a Pakistani court ordered a 31-year jail term for terrorist Hafiz Saeed and confiscation of property. Experts see this decision of the court as a step taken by the Pakistan Army to improve relations with India.
Role of India in Pakistan’s politics?
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India has always been an important factor in the politics of Pakistan. New Delhi has always been a topic of debate in Islamabad.
In the last month, Imran has praised India several times regarding its foreign policy. Through this, he directly targeted the army for inept conduct of foreign and defense policies. This was a very disturbing statement for the army sitting in Rawalpindi. This completely forced the army to go against Imran Khan.
In this context, it is clear that opposition PML-N and PPP will have to take a more harsh stance towards India in order to please the army, so there is little chance of their softening towards Delhi.
Shahbaz Sharif and India:
Four years ago, Nawaz Sharif was voted out of power after losing in the general elections. However, by ousting Imran Khan, Nawaz Sharif’s brother Shahbaz has shown that he still has big cards to return to the game.
Shahbaz Sharif has played an important role in bringing a no-trust motion against Imran Khan. Shahbaz has worked in his own way to gain the support of the Pakistani army during this period.
If seen, Nawaz Sharif has always been very positive about improving relations with India. However, it may be difficult because of Imran Khan’s statements before the elections.
Shahbaz Sharif has often talked about working together with Pakistani Punjab and Indian Punjab. He has been the Chief Minister of Punjab province of Pakistan thrice.
In 2017, the problem of smog was going on in both Punjab and North India, when Shahbaz Sharif wrote a letter to the Chief Minister of Punjab, Captain Amarinder Singh. In this, he had demanded a mechanism to deal with the problem of smog and the issue of pollution. He had said that we should come together for the future of the people of both the provinces.
Shahbaz does the traditional politics of PML-N while Imran Khan is known for the politics of protest. It is believed that Shahbaz will be an advocate of good trade relations with India.
Any hopes for diplomatic talks?
Till now Imran Khan had completely blocked the way of talks by personally attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP. However, with the departure of Imran Khan, it has now become easier to initiate diplomatic talks between New Delhi and Islamabad.
Experts say that Imran’s withdrawal may lead to a complete resumption of diplomatic ties between the two countries. Any activity on talks should be started, trade should be reopened gradually.
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