When Pakistan’s arch-enemy India made a rare public appeal in response to the record floods that had inundated major portions of the country, aid from all over the world was offered.
In a series of tweets in late August, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif thanked Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his condolences and said that Pakistan “will, inshaAllah, overcome.” Modi expressed his wish for “an early return of normality.” According to reports, the two countries were also negotiating for New Delhi to start delivering humanitarian aid. But in the end, it seems that the typical bottlenecks were successful. Due to ongoing bilateral disagreements over the status of Jammu and Kashmir, Islamabad has thus far refused to receive the help.
Following the tweets, Sharif referred to India’s actions in the contentious area as “genocide” and bemoaned the “denial of rights to Kashmiris.”
The fundamental obstacle to better India-Pakistan ties has continued to be the status of Jammu and Kashmir, which was given to India at Partition in 1947 and later the subject of several border conflicts and skirmishes between the two countries. But in recent years, a subtle but persistent warming trend between New Delhi and Islamabad has emerged; the barrage of supportive tweets following the devastating floods is only the thaw’s most recent manifestation. The fact that two nuclear-armed sworn foes are getting along better is huge news, but it hasn’t gotten much coverage in the Western media.
Surprisingly, India and Pakistan were preparing for war as of February 2019. 40 Indian police officers died in a suicide terrorist strike that same month in the Pulwama area of Jammu & Kashmir, which is administered by India. Jaish-e-Mohammed, a terrorist organisation based in Pakistan, claimed responsibility despite Pakistan’s condemnation of the incident. A few days later, India responded by attacking a Jaish-e-Mohammed base in Balakot, Pakistan, with airstrikes. Pakistani soldiers took part in the operation and downed an Indian fighter plane while capturing the pilot. A few days later, Islamabad released the pilot as a show of goodwill, and tensions subsided.
