The Future of India-Pakistan Relations: An Interview with Pakistani Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed

This past August, Pakistan and India celebrated 73 years of independence. The relations between the two countries remain as intense as they were upon their creation, reaching a fever pitch over the last two years. During this time, Pakistan and India have carried out limited air strikes against each other. Both countries have shown disdain towards convening any form of diplomatic relations, and Pakistan’s Prime Minister has gone as far as labeling the government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a fascist regime for its actions in the disputed region of Kashmir. 

Recently, I had the opportunity to discuss with Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed of the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) the avenues Pakistan should explore to improve India-Pakistan ties. Senator Hussain currently serves as the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Senate of Pakistan and previously served as an advisor on external publicity and foreign affairs to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from 1990 to 1993. In 1997, Senator Hussain served as the information minister in Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s cabinet. 

I started the conversation by asking the senator to address the difference in former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s strategy of addressing India-Pakistan relations compared to that of current Prime Minister Imran Khan. The senator responded by highlighting that “both Prime Minister Nawaz and Prime Minister Imran Khan began their respective tenures on a positive note of building ties with Modi’s India, but the bonhomie in both instances was short lived.” He ascribed the lack of success in rehabilitating relations by both Prime Ministers to the Indian intelligence agency RAW meddling in Pakistani internal affairs, the indigenous uprising in occupied Kashmir, and the attack in Uri by Kashmiri freedom fighters in September 2016, which killed 17 Indian soldiers. He believes that “the problem is not at Islamabad’s end, it’s all about Kashmir & the Indian mindset vis-a-vis Pakistan.” Senator Hussain added that “Prime Minister Imran Khan also made an attempt to reach out to Modi’s India, as is evident from the tweet he made to congratulate Prime Minister Modi on his emphatic win in the 2019 elections.” 

I asked him to address the reservations held by many Indian officials that the Pakistani civilian government has little power over making key policy decisions in building relations with India; they instead believe that real power rests with the Pakistani military establishment. Senator Hussain began by pointing out how, in his opinion, the military establishment has always taken quite a pragmatic approach towards India. He recalled how “Field Marshal Ayyub Khan offered joint defense to India & signed the Indus Waters Treaty, General Zia-ul-Haq paid five visits to India and hardly ever raised the Kashmir issue, and General Pervez Musharraf even side-lined UN resolutions on Kashmir in a bid to improve relations with India.”

Senator Hussain further declined the notion that the Pakistani military establishment influenced former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s government policy towards India. He claimed that “as far as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s Indian policy was concerned, he took decisions based on his own view of having an outreach to India with dignity and honor, and his decisions were not influenced by the military establishment.” The senator continued, “even the decision to go nuclear was a political decision solely taken by the civilian government under Prime Nawaz Sharif without any pressure or interference from the military establishment.” 

Towards the end of our conversation, I asked him what a practical road map to rehabilitating relations between India and Pakistan might look like. He responded that we need to start with “low hanging fruit,” in particular, “an inter-parliamentary dialogue with my counterparts in the Indian Parliament.” According to the senator, both nations should revive relations through soft power channels, specifically sporting events and cultural exchanges. For instance, he suggests that athletes from both nations should be allowed to participate in the cricket leagues held in India and Pakistan. Pakistani cricketing athletes have not participated in the Indian Premier League (IPL) since its inaugural season in 2008, and no Indian cricket athlete has ever been a part of the Pakistan Super League (PSL).  He also recommends that the Pakistani government should invite India to be a stakeholder in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), thus making regional economic connectivity a major focus in rehabilitating relations between India and Pakistan. 

However, the likelihood of such measures being successfully put into effect are grim. As Senator Hussain indicated, due to Indian hostility towards Pakistan, “Pakistan has launched the most aggressive and proactive Kashmir diplomacy, with a strong anti-India tinge, ever seen since Simla, including sending out about a dozen special envoys on Kashmir.”