While tensions may seem to be governing the state of relations between Islamabad and New Delhi, the recent low-key visit of a Hindu parliamentarian from across the border seems to have borne some good results.
According to reports in media, Islamabad has given nod to open the Sharda Peeth temple in Pakistan-administered-Kashmir for Hindu pilgrims. This will be the second important announcement after Kartarpur corridor was operationalized and it will further deescalate the situation.
Reports in Pakistan media quoting sources in the ministry of foreign affairs said India’s foreign ministry has already sent a proposal to open the corridor for Hindu pilgrims, reported Express Tribune.
According to Express News, “After Kartarpur, a piece of big news is in the offing for Hindus. Some of the government officials will visit the area and will later submit a report to the prime minister,” said the report while quoting sources at the ministry of foreign affairs.
This come after Islamabad opened the Kartarpur Corridor – a project that connects Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan’s Narowal district with Dera Baba Nanak in India's Gurdaspur district. Kartarpur is one of the most significant places for Sikhs.
"Not too long ago I had written to PM imploring GoI to reopen Sharda Peeth, a temple across LoC for Kash Pandits. An initiative like this at a time when Indo - Pak tensions are at an all time high could help navigate the current impasse," tweeted PDP president and former J&K chief minister Mehbooba Mufti while sharing a tweet on the reported opening of the corridor.
“Pakistan has decided to open the Sharda temple. I am going to visit the place in a couple of days. I will also send a report in this regard to Prime Minister Imran Khan. Work on the project will start from the current year after which Hindus in Pakistan will also be able to visit the site,” Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) member of the National Assembly (MNA) Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankwani was quoted as having said by the Express News.
On February 24, Vankwani met the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, FM Sushma Swaraj and Minister of State of External Affairs VK Singh in the national capital. Later he told ANI that he assured the prime minister and the ministers that Pakistan had no involvement in the Pulwama terror attack. “We should move in a positive direction, we want peace,” he said.
Vankwani said he will help mediate between the governments of India and Pakistan to defuse tension in the wake of the Pulwama attack, the Hindustan Times reported. “If you have any apprehension, tell me about it,” he said. “I will share it with my government,” PTI quoted him as saying at the event in Delhi.
Vankwani told The Express Tribune that he has communicated a “positive note” to Indian leaders and “I hope there will now be a change in their behaviour”. “I told the Indian foreign minister that in Pakistan its captain’s [Prime Minister Imran Khan’s] government now; he is a Pathan and he does what he says. We assure you that no Pakistani institution is involved in Pulwama attack. If India provides evidence, we will facilitate the investigation.”
The opening of Sharda Peeth will be a significant confidence building measure between the two countries after they were almost drawn into a war in the aftermath of February 14 suicide bombing in Pulwama in which 49 paramilitary troopers were killed.
The announcement is in sharp contrast with the position taken by the central government in Jammu and Kashmir where a sweeping crackdown has been launched against the separatists and Jamaat-e-Islami in the run up to the Lok Sabha polls.
Political analysts see the BJP’s doublespeak as a move to consolidate the Hindutva vote bank by projecting the ‘iron-hand’ image of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of the polls. But it also has come at a great human and economic cost in Jammu and Kashmir.