Caretaker Prime Minister of Pakistan Anwar-ul-Haq Kakkar. , Photo: AP
There is a consensus in all institutions for healthy ties with India, former Prime Minister and Senator of Pakistan Anwar-ul-Haq Kakkar said. Mr Kakkar, representing Balochistan, was Pakistan’s longest-serving caretaker prime minister between August 2023 and March 2024. He oversaw elections earlier this year and is considered close to the military. Speaking of The Hindu in Islamabad, Mr. Kakkar said Foreign Minister S Jaishankar’s visit to Pakistan was reciprocal but would offer an opportunity to explore whether Delhi and Islamabad were ready for better ties.
How do you see Foreign Minister S Jaishankar’s visit to Pakistan, the first in nine years by an Indian foreign minister, and the fact that he came for a SCO meeting?
I would link it to the presence of former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari for the SCO (Foreign Ministers) multilateral meeting in India [in May 2023]. I think it was reciprocal. This is a multilateral event and both sides understand that it is not a bilateral commitment, but at the same time, such moments sometimes make history. They sometimes give you the opportunity to relate to things that, under normal circumstances, the extreme parties probably wouldn’t have thought of. So hopefully something will come for the region. We need to know what is going on in India’s mind intellectually? What is going on in the minds of the Pakistani political elite, the other players who are stakeholders in both countries? Let’s give it a chance.
What do you think is on the mind of the Pakistani military, especially considering the 2021 LoC ceasefire?
Frankly, I believe there is a consensus on the Pakistani side: when it comes to India, everyone wants good relations, the military-political establishment, even Pakistan’s right-wing, religious political entities, Jamaat-e-Islami. They all agree that we should have a healthy, constructive balance, equal or fair relationship. Does it translate into [similiar sentiments] in India?
Some would argue that the ball is actually in Pakistan’s court – it was Pakistan that canceled trade with India and suspended road and rail links in 2019. Do you think there will be a reversal of these decisions now?
Pakistan’s external security is paramount – and there will obviously be a response to any threat. We have spent about five decades developing our security doctrine, improving our conventional capabilities; this is a realistic expectation.
Do you think some of the transport links between people can be restored soon?
Who would argue against interaction between ordinary people? I would like to see that happen, but I think when I see the Indian diaspora and the Pakistani diaspora interacting over the last seven decades in the West and the rest of the world, I wonder. Did it bring us closer together? I think we have to be more realistic that people-to-people connections may not actually help solve problems on their own when there are such entrenched positions on both sides, and the challenge is how to overcome that.
Published – October 16, 2024, 12:08 PM IST
