THE INDIAN EXPRESS

APLN member C. Raja Mohan argues that improving bilateral ties with India is a low priority for Pakistan as it grapples with multiple challenges at home and in its western borderlands.

As Shehbaz Sharif takes charge as the Prime Minister of Pakistan this week, the focus inevitably turns to the prospects for ending the current freeze in bilateral relations with India. However, the expectations for a new beginning must be tempered for several reasons.

For one, improving bilateral relations is not an urgent priority for India or Pakistan. For Delhi and Islamabad, bilateral engagement is a high-cost and low-reward exercise. In addition, the higher the ambition for a productive bilateral relationship, the greater the political costs of organising it. The costs are higher in Pakistan, where the new government is weak and hobbled by multiple domestic challenges. PM Narendra Modi, expected to begin a third term at the end of May following the general elections, is in a much better position to take risks in engaging Pakistan. Still, he also insists on terms of his own.

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