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EYE ON INDIA JUNE 06, 2025 | The Indian Eye 8

OPERATION SINDOOR

How Pakistan is indulging in fake peace

moves after being hit by Indian missiles

Despite Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s diplomatic overtures, Pakistan’s foreign policy

remains firmly under the control of its military establishment — and recent events suggest
that the promise of peace is still a carefully managed illusion

OUR BUREAU volvement in rebuilding terror camps
after Operation Sindoor and compen-
New Delhi
sating terrorist families makes one
hen Pakistan’s Prime Min- thing clear: the institution that con-
ister Shehbaz Sharif stood trols Pakistan’s foreign relations does
Wbeside Iranian President not seek peace. Instead, it thrives on
Masoud Pezeshkian in Tehran and perpetuating low-intensity conflict,
declared that Pakistan was “ready to maintaining a siege mentality, and de-
talk” with India, it marked yet anoth- flecting public dissent through hyper-
er chapter in a long tradition of emp- nationalism and external blame.
ty overtures. Proposing dialogue on This posture was further evident
Kashmir, water-sharing, and trade, in Sharif’s bizarre claim that “seg-
Sharif’s words carried all the hall- ments of the Indian right-wing me-
marks of statesmanship. Yet, beneath dia” were engaged in a disinformation
the surface, the machinery of Paki- campaign to delegitimise Pakistan’s
stan’s foreign policy tells a different transitional leadership. India’s Minis-
story — one run not by diplomats, but try of External Affairs dismissed these
by generals. Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif (right) and army chief Gen Asim Munir (Agency file photos) allegations as a diversion from Paki-
In the wake of India’s Operation stan’s internal failures. “When state-
Sindoor, which delivered a devastat- destroyed in Operation Sindoor and also counter-terrorism,” but failed to ments of this sort come, it seems like
ing blow to terror camps operating had announced compensation of Rs 1 address the core issue: Pakistan’s own you want to deflect from your own
across the Line of Control, Pakistan’s crore to the families of slain terrorists. role in nurturing terrorism. governance challenges,” said MEA
civilian leadership has been scram- This perverse reward, allegedly bank- Former Culture Secretary Ragh- spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal.
bling to regain narrative control. But rolled by recent IMF disbursements, vendra Singh summed it up bluntly: Operation Sindoor changed the
analysts, diplomats, and former bu- undermines any notion of sincere “These things have been expressed in strategic calculus. The fallout has
reaucrats agree: the real power in commitment to peace or counterter- the past by Pakistan’s political lead- been severe. Internally, the military
Islamabad lies not in the Prime Min- rorism. ership, but nothing concrete has ever is grappling with political instability,
ister’s office, but at Rawalpindi’s Gen- happened.” The chorus of skepticism economic uncertainty, and rising pub-
eral Headquarters. A Legacy of Terrorism, Not is growing, not just in India but among lic anger. Externally, Pakistan’s image
Dialogue global observers who increasingly see as a peace-seeking state lies in tatters,
The Illusion of Civilian Pakistan’s democracy as cosmetic, its even among former sympathisers.
Leadership akistan’s long-standing sup- peace overtures strategic, and its for- India has made its position clear:
port for cross-border terrorism eign policy dictated by generals, not “Terror and trade cannot go hand in
s former Indian Ambassador Phas consistently derailed peace parliamentarians. hand.” Yet, unless Pakistan’s military
Veena Sikri recently put it, efforts. From the 2001 Parliament Indeed, even Pakistan’s “offer” relinquishes control over the coun-
A“The Prime Minister of Paki- attack to the 2016 Pathankot and for peace came with caveats. “If they try’s foreign and internal policy, peace
stan sadly has no authority at all. The Uri strikes, and the Pulwama suicide accept my offer of peace,” Sharif said, will remain an illusion.
real authority and power are now in the bombing in 2019, the pattern has re- “then we will show that we really want Sharif’s words may find an au-
hands of the new Field Marshal, Asim mained unchanged: when diplomatic peace.” This conditional tone betrays dience in international capitals, but
Munir.” Sikri’s remarks underline a progress seems possible, terror strikes the hollowness of the gesture — di- they carry no weight unless matched
widely acknowledged reality: in Paki- sabotage the process. plomacy that demands a reward be- by action — an action that must begin
stan, the military not only drives na- The timing of Sharif’s peace fore action, rather than offering confi- with Pakistan’s army withdrawing its
tional security decisions but also steers overture cannot be ignored. Coming dence-building steps unilaterally. patronage of terror.
the country’s foreign policy — partic- after the diplomatic isolation and mil- Until then, the peace table re-
ularly in matters concerning India. itary embarrassment inflicted by Op- The Shadow of Rawalpindi mains empty — a symbolic casualty
In fact, even as Sharif touted eration Sindoor, it appears more as an in a conflict where the real negoti-
peace during his tour of Iran, reports attempt at damage control than genu- he Pakistan Army’s domina- ations are not between diplomats,
emerged that the Pakistan Army had ine outreach. Sharif claimed, “We are tion of civilian institutions is but between politics and power in
begun rebuilding terror infrastructure ready to talk to promote trade and Thardly new. The military’s in- Rawalpindi.

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