View From The Neighbourhood: Crisis Zone

A weekly look at the public conversations shaping ideas beyond borders — in the Subcontinent.

Indian and Pakistan, Indian Pakistan relations, Pulwama attack, Munir Akram, Imran khan, narendra Modi, balakot air strike, peace in South Asia, Indian express — Munir Akram, a former Pakistani ambassador to the UN, in an article in Dawn on April 14 says that the recent crisis in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack was a “baptism by fire” for the Imran Khan government and adds: “In the event, the Pakistani leader emerged as a responsible statesman while Modi exposed himself as a rash warmonger.”

Munir Akram, a former Pakistani ambassador to the UN, lays out in an article in Dawn on April 14 the many hurdles to peace in South Asia, of amity between Indian and Pakistan. He first says that the recent crisis in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack was a “baptism by fire” for the Imran Khan government and adds: “In the event, the Pakistani leader emerged as a responsible statesman while Modi exposed himself as a rash warmonger.” But Akram disagrees with the Pakistan PM’s assertion that if re-elected, Narendra Modi will be strong enough to engage meaningfully with Pakistan. The crux of his argument is that in the current global geopolitical scenario, with the US and China ranged against each other in a “new Cold War”, “peace is difficult”.