India-Pakistan Peace Talks resurface: Indus Water treaty to be discussed, while India could participate in military exercises in Pakistan

Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa said on Thursday that lasting peace in the sub-continent will remain elusive until the resolution of the Kashmir issue, stressing that it was time for India and Pakistan to “bury the past and move forward”.

Following this quote, Pakistan’s chargé d’affaires Aftab Hasan Khan on Tuesday said that his country wants to have good relations with its neighbours.

Aftab Hassan Khan, the acting head of the Pakistan high commission, said that the dispute between India and Pakistan over Jammu and Kashmir can only be resolved through talks.

“Pakistan wants to have good relations with its neighbours…It would only be possible with peace and for it to prevail, issues must be resolved via dialogue especially that of J&K which has been going on for 70 years,” Khan said.

Khan’s statement comes as the two countries are holding the annual Permanent Indus Commission meeting in Delhi under the 1960 Indus Water Treaty (IWT). The meeting is being held after a gap of more than two-and-a-half years.

The two-day annual meeting of the Permanent Indus Commission (PIC) scheduled to take place in New Delhi comes less than four weeks after both nations, in a move that took many by surprise, struck a ceasefire agreement along the International Border and Line of Control which, in the last month, has encouragingly been observed by both parties.

The latest session of talks planned in New Delhi though represents an important step in bolstering the current version of the IWT such that it mutually benefits both nations. Article VII of the IWT, for instance, discusses the notion of “taking up joint studies and engineering works on the rivers to benefit people living in the catchment area of IRS.’ Article IX includes provisions by which “differences” and “disputes” over hydroelectric projects may be settled.

In yet another signal that frosty ties between New Delhi and Islamabad are thawing, India could take part in a multi-nation exercise to be hosted by Pakistan later this year at its premier anti-terrorism centre in Pabbi in Nowshera district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The exercise will be held under the aegis of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

If the plan goes through, it would be a historic event, given that it would be the first time that Indian forces will travel to Pakistan for any military exercise.

Sources quoted by ThePrint remained non-committal about the actual participation of the Indian troops in the joint exercise “Pabbi-Antiterror-2021”, saying a final decision was yet to be taken.

The sources also said that the proposal is under consideration of the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS). However, they did confirm that India will be participating in a joint Army exercise under SCO umbrella in Russia later this year.

Although these peace-talks are just in their initial stages, the experts claim this could leave a lasting impact on the Indian-Pakistani ties while the relations with China might create divide between the two as India plans to compete with it in terms of Manufacturing and business.