Due to the impasse in ties with India, Pakistan will have significant elections in the new year

 Due to the impasse in ties with India, Pakistan will have significant elections in the new year

Due to the impasse in ties with India, Pakistan will have significant elections in the new year

The trip to India by former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Ministerial Conference in Goa in May was the high point of the year that just ended.

For the fourth year in a row, Pakistan and India's bilateral relations have been at a standstill due to the contentious Kashmir dispute. However, many anticipate that tensions would persist if Nawaz Sharif emerges victorious in the general elections in February, taking over as prime minister without his main opponent. Things could get better. Imran Khan, who is often incarcerated.

The trip to India by former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Ministerial Conference in Goa in May was the high point of the year that just ended.

Prior to the visit, the public discourse centered on the possibility of a meeting between Bilawal and his Indian counterpart, S Jaishankar. However, there was no demand for such a meeting shown by any party. Instead, during their formal statements at the ministerial conference, both presidents made jabs at the other's nation using body language and rhetoric.

Many in India were offended by Bilawal's word choice, especially his plea to participants not to allow terrorism to obstruct political connections. During his speech at the SCO summit, Jaishankar emphasized how critical it is to confront the problem of cross-border terrorism.

So, the first visit by a foreign minister from Pakistan to India in over a decade, by Bilawal, did not ease tensions over the Kashmir dispute.

Pakistan severed economic relations and downgraded diplomatic ties with India when New Delhi decided to abolish Jammu and Kashmir's special status after Article 370 of the Constitution was abrogated in August 2019. Pakistan also withdrew its representative from Islamabad. ceased.

When the Supreme Court of India upheld the Indian government's decision to repeal Article 370 of the Constitution in December, the present caretaker government of Pakistan and Pakistani political figures also responded angrily.

There is a glimmer of optimism that the India-Pakistan equation may alter as 2023 slips into the past because of shifting regional conditions and internal pressures.

Recently, Pakistan has found itself in a difficult predicament as a result of its misplaced gamble in Afghanistan. The Taliban takeover has backfired miserably since Kabul's ruling elite has failed to break their relations with militants from Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, who are accountable for the nation's unending atrocities. This has left Islamabad open to the group's attitude and compelled to reevaluate its choices.

Thousands of Afghans who are residing unlawfully have been given marching orders as a direct consequence. Thus far, almost 400,000 individuals have been banished. Despite opposition and threats from the Taliban government in neighboring Afghanistan, the decision has not been revoked.

Second, after his four-year self-imposed exile in Britain, Nawaz Sharif, a three-time former prime minister, is expected to win an unprecedented fourth term in office when elections are conducted on February 8 of next year.

The 73-year-old Sharif has been exonerated of all charges of corruption and is enjoying the formalities of prime minister-designate prior to his ascent to office.

Analysts claim that Sharif is a fervent supporter of keeping cordial ties with all neighbors, particularly India. During his speech to party leaders in Lahore on December 7, he made it clear that his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) prioritized strengthening diplomatic ties with neighboring nations including Afghanistan, Iran, and India. was scheduled for the team.

"How can you achieve global status when your neighbors are angry at you?" He enquired.

Sharif claimed he was correct to reject the 1999 Kargil conflict, which he had opposed and which had ultimately led to his removal by former army head Pervez Musharraf for his "audacity".

He said, "Time has proven us right as far as the Kargil episode is concerned," which his Indian audience would have likely found endearing.

When discussing his past periods of achievement, Sharif brought up the improvement of ties with India and asked for support for his approach to that country by posing the following query: "During whose tenure two Indian Prime Ministers "Visited? Atal Bihari Vajpayee came first, followed by Narendra Modi."

Leading daily Dawn cited a political analyst as stating that Sharif has a track record of mending ties with India after his speech in Lahore.

"Nawaz and the establishment have long disagreed on the need of strengthening ties with India. The publication reported the analyst as adding, "Whenever Nawaz Sharif came to power, he endeavored to join hands with India against the wishes of the establishment." of "without giving his name.

His cordial connections with Prime Minister Narendra Modi stem from the fact that both of them are fighting for re-election to a second term in office next year. Their presence in both nations may aid in the national scenario's reduction of bilateral tensions.

In order to concentrate on the Taliban menace, Pakistan would also want to keep its eastern front calm. This was also brought up by Acting Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Gilani during a news conference after the ruling on the Kashmir issue by the Indian Supreme Court. He said that Pakistan would want to see peace maintained along the Line of Control when questioned about how the decision might affect the security situation there.

While Sharif's return to politics has been easier, Imran Khan, a former cricket player turned politician, is fighting to stay relevant while incarcerated. He has claimed that his party's members were singled out, detained, and prevented from submitting their candidacy papers for the elections scheduled for February 8th, in spite of guarantees from the court and the highest electoral authority.

Khan, who was given bail in the Sifar case, will stay behind bars after he was found guilty in the corruption case in Toshakhana.

Economically speaking, Pakistan's cash-strapped economy has been in decline for the last several years, which has placed immense pressure on the impoverished population in the form of unchecked inflation.

Pakistan's deteriorating economy has compelled it to contact other nations in an attempt to get loans. Pakistan was able to avert a sovereign debt default thanks to a credit deal authorized by the International Monetary Fund in July. Pakistan got US$1.2 billion from the IMF in July as the first installment of the US$3 billion Standby Arrangement (SBA).

With the Taliban seizing control of Afghanistan in August 2021, there has also been an upsurge in bloodshed in Pakistan. Terrorists and separatists have been attacking Pakistani security personnel all year long.

Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan (TJP) is a recently founded terrorist group that is an associate of the TTP, which is prohibited. The organization first surfaced in the previous year. The organization has carried out many assaults on security personnel, including one of the bloodiest terror strikes against the armed forces in recent memory that took the lives of 23 soldiers in the unrest-plagued province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa during the second week of December.

About 300 kilometers from Lahore, on November 4, TJP terrorists assaulted the Pakistan Air Force's Mianwali Training Air Base, causing damage to three ground-based aircraft. Only one day before, three distinct terrorist strikes inside the nation claimed the lives of seventeen troops.

The establishment in Pakistan has declared that it would not give up until the danger posed by terrorists is eradicated.