The global vision of peace, and its relevance to the nuclearized subcontinent, always remained an area of less globally importance. Because people around the world generally believe that the presence of nuclear weapons between India and Pakistan is the main hurdle in the way of generating peace in South Asia. Indian multiple efforts of enhancing its strategic muscles for the achievement of regional hegemonic status has sabotaged the South Asian vision of peace. The quest of New Delhi for dominating the regional politics has inaugurated a perpetual competition with its territorially adjoining nations, and this situation has jeopardized the security of other states. In this way, the countries witnessing Indian aggression always tried to enhance their diplomatic cooperation and peaceful interaction in regional politics by opposing Indian anti-neighbourhood policy. Apart from other regional states, Pakistan in different times endeavoured to introduce various measures to add the significance of peace against New Delhi’s ferocious framework for managing the relations with neighbouring nations. In continuation of its mission of peace, the present government of Pakistan once again tried to change the hostile nature of Indo-Pak relations through its vision of interfaith harmony and peaceful coexistence inherited in the Kartarpur Corridor.
Kartarpur corridor is an important step of Islamabad which is not only a prerequisite to peace in the decades-long India Pakistan rivalry, but it is an attempt of generating diplomatic cooperation and enhancement of people to people contacts with India. It is an effort of the prime minister, Imran Khan, to facilitate the Indian Sikh pilgrims in the offering of their religious services. Prime minister Khan laid the foundation of peace in the history of the subcontinent by respecting the religious affiliations of Sikhs to the Kartarpur. This move let the Sikh community undertake ‘darshan’ of Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib without any visa hurdle. Even the government of Pakistan has offered a number of facilities to Sikh community through connecting the Narowal district of Pakistan to the Dera Baba Nanak of India. Both localities of Punjab from Indian and Pakistani sides turned a new page of India-Pakistan history and provided a chance to Indian leaders for the betterment of foreign relations with the neighbouring states. The construction of this corridor alongside the India-Pakistan border, no doubt, an appreciable step of Islamabad, but it opened a new chapter in the history of two rival neighbours which cannot be spared from Modi’s anti Pakistan behaviour.
In the presence of high tensions between the pair of nuclear-armed nations over the disputed land of Kashmir, prime minister Imran Khan adopted a matured approach and offered his Indian counterpart to depart from his violent political nature. Modi government, instead of acknowledging Islamabad’s peaceful way of altering the conventional hostile basis of India-Pakistan relations, preferred to increase its violent role in the occupied areas of Kashmir. The withdrawal of Article 370 and imposition of crippling curfew in Kashmir, which showed the augmentation of Modi’s anti-Muslim or anti-Kashmir policy has intensified the South Asian security environment. The Kashmir issue has become a miserable picture of humanity. Under an intense placement of security forces, a massive violation of fundamental values of human rights has started portraying an awful picture of Kashmiri society. The people living under Indian occupation are suffering from shut down of major communications networks. The cut down of internet services and the arresting of political leaders heightened the tensions with Pakistan. With the passing of every day, the lockdown and communications blackout in the Indian occupied Kashmir is becoming more austere. This intense situation probable to escalate a major conflict between the nuclear armed neighbours, the Khan’s message of cooperation inherited in religious diplomacy started providing a ray of hope. The opening of the border has widely observed as a positive development under the nuclearized security environment of the subcontinent, where the question of peace has become an area of less political significance.
The opening of the border for Sikhs has marked a significant step in the conflicted history of two nuclear powers because the two-sided governments have got a golden opportunity for the improvement of their hostile diplomatic interaction. No doubt, it is a Pakistani sponsored peace initiative taken by Imran Khan, but the Modi administration needs to realise the significance of this step by leaving its radical approach. Instead of critically examining the status of this corridor of peace under the broader perspective of New Delhi’s historical rivalry with Islamabad, the Indian leaders need to understand the message of peace and harmony in prime minster Khan’s approach. Pakistani leaders formally announced the opening of the border for the Sikh community before the 550th anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikhism. While opening the corridor at the border by sending a message of peace and cooperation under the broader vision of peace, prime minister Khan paid obeisance at historical place, the Ber Sahib Gurdwara located in the Kapurthala district of Indian Punjab. This move to make Sikh community happiest and welcoming is primarily an attempt of Islamabad for convincing Modi government on the vision of regional peace and harmony. A number of Indian leaders appreciated the efforts of Khan’s government including the former prime minister, Manmohan Singh. In the inaugural ceremony of Gurdwara at Kartarpur, prime minster Singh along with various other Sikh leaders visited Pakistan and appreciated the Imran Khan government. In response to the Indian Sikh community, Pakistani Sikh population along with people around the world admired the Khan’s way of managing foreign relations with the neighbouring nations. The political authorities living world’s leading capitals further observed the visa-free policy of Islamabad as a gesture of diplomatic goodwill and political friendliness for New Delhi.
The fulfilling of longstanding religious desires of Sikh pilgrims is a pivotal moment in the hostile history of India Pakistan which has provided an opportunity to the two sided governments to reduce their historical tensions on various issues of regional and global affairs. An adequate exploration of different other areas of cooperation, beyond people to people contacts, could compel the leaders from both sides to further institutionalise the process of trust-building and peaceful resolution of their different points of disagreements. Different intellectual circles across the world positively viewed the Kartarpur corridor and marked it as a significant development in the international system.
Despite receiving a widespread appreciation from around the world, the initiative of the corridor still lacks appropriate attention of the international community in the presence of Modi’s critical examination of Khan’s peaceful approach. This move of Islamabad for the opening of Kartarpur border is just a beginning which could be considered seriously as an attempt of softening ongoing tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad. Both strategic competitors of South Asia equipped with nuclear weapon capabilities now need to take further peaceful measures for the reducing of their hostility. The improvement of bilateral relations between India and Pakistan based on Kartarpur corridor could define a future of peaceful regional politics. It will further compel the two sided leaders to explore various other avenues of diplomatic cooperation which will enable the governments of both states to resolve their longstanding territorial disputes. In other words, the Kartarpur corridor contains sufficient potential to bring peace and harmony in the nuclearized South Asian politics. Leading Indian policymakers should treat it under Modi administration as an excellent opportunity which could ensure stability in the nuclearized region. The reciprocal responses from New Delhi mainly based on a permanent peaceful resolution of Kashmir issue along with respecting the fundamental human rights values in the occupied areas of Kashmiri society could help to create peace in the region.
