US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s phone call to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif reflected a number of things. First, US President Donald Trump’s airy reassurance of a couple of days ago seems to have been abandoned, and the USA had now realized that matters were not calming down. Second, Secretary Rubio’s suggestion that Pakistan cooperate with the enquiry did not seem to reflect the Indian position, which was what one expected of a country closely aligned to India, to the extent of regarding it as a regional policeman. Another reason for Secretary Rubio’s intervention is that there was what for the USA would seem a danger, of Iran playing a mediatory role while the USA remained uninvolved.
The involvement is something that Pakistan, as the non-aggressor in the conflict, would have wished, not because it fears India, but because it is having a conflict thrust upon it without its wishing. There has been unprovoked Indian firing along the Line of Control, to which the Pakistan Army has made valiant reply, and tempers remain frayed. Pakistanis are smarting under the unfairness of the Indian accusations, and the possibility that it might use this excuse to engage in a misadventure. Information Minister Ata Tarar and Defence Minister Kh Asif have separately predicted an Indian attack very soon, an indication that some information had been received. A conflict between the two nuclear-armed neighbours is not really an option, but escalation is extremely fast to occur, and the entire world cannot afford even what is happening, troops of the two countries keep firing at each other. At the moment, both sides are using small arms, but how long is before someone uses cannon> And before the other side calls in an air strike to silence the cannon? Can anyone say with any degree of confidence that the escalation will not climb the ladder?
The world must realize that it is the Indian war-machine which is headed by someone who once said that India’s nuclear weapons were not ‘fireworks to be let off at Diwali.’ Pakistan has made itself clear: it will respond to aggression, but will commit none. However, this should not be interpreted either as weakness or lack of resolve. Pakistan’s government would not like a war at a time when there seemed to be some light at the end of the economic tunnel, but if it is thrust upon it, then the nation is ready.
