Islamabad unable to deal with Narendra Modi-led India: Pakistani daily

Islamabad: The US decision to ally with India vis-a-vis Jammu and Kashmir is a sign that "Pakistan has been unable to adapt its approach to India" led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a Pakistani newspaper said on Friday.

"Historically, the US has encouraged Pakistan and India to engage in dialogue on all disputes and issues between the two countries. But that encouragement is now meaningless if the US aligns itself with India on the Kashmir dispute," the Dawn said in an editorial.

This, the influential daily said, posed certain challenges to Pakistan, including how to mobilize world opinion against India over Jammu and Kashmir.

"Whether it is the dysfunction in civil-military relations, the intransigence of the security establishment or the reluctance of the PML-N government, Pakistan has been unable to adapt its approach to India in the Modi era," it said.

The Dawn felt that perhaps Pakistan`s own fraught history with militancy had made the outside world more sceptical of Islamabad`s claims when it came to Kashmir.

It said that 30 years after the separatist struggle began in the state, "India has re-embraced the idea that Kashmir can be crushed. 

"But the only thing that may have changed is that the consequences of Indian oppression may be tragically worse."

The Dawn was particularly harsh over the US State Department`s listing of Syed Salahuddin, a Pakistan-based Kashmiri separatist leader, as a specially designated global terrorist.

This happened hours before US President Donald Trump and Modi met in Washington for their first face-to-face talks and issued a joint statement urging Pakistan not to let its territory be used for cross-border terror attacks.