The Heat: Unrest between Pakistan and India

The Heat

The Heat: Unrest between Pakistan and India

For more than a week, thousands of protestors have rallied outside Pakistan’s parliament, calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The leader is accused of winning the 2013 elections by voter fraud. A claim he and his party vehemently deny. Now Pro-Sharif supporters are calling for national reconciliation.

Pakistan has a long history of political turmoil, military rule and conflicts. Pakistani Taliban fighters recently attacked two military installations, killing 13 security forces.

India’s new government cancelled high level talks between the two countries, and gunfire was exchanged in the disputed Kashmir region this weekend killing at least four civilians.
All while a political drama is playing out in the capital city of Islamabad.

National hero Imran Khan, the leader of the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf party, has staged a sit-in inside the city’s “red zone” of government buildings and foreign embassies.

Thousands of supporters marched with Khan from Lahore to Islamabad. A similar rally is also being held by Cleric Muhammad Tahir-ul Qadri.

Each group is united in their opposition to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who leads the Pakistan Muslim League and controls an overwhelming majority in parliament. The parliament has called the dueling protests “unconstitutional.”

CCTV’S Danial Khan reports on the situation in Islamabad.

Parliamentary elections in 2013 brought the Pakistan Muslim League back to power. It was also the first time in Pakistan’s history, one elected government transitioned to another.
Our panel discussed the political unrest.

Ambassador Husain Haqqanie served as Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States from 2008 to 2011. Farahnaz Ispahani served as a member of the Pakistani parliament and is currently a public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center. Joshua White is the Deputy Director of the South Asian Program at the Stimson Center.

Pakistan and India have fought three wars since gaining Independence from Great Britain in 1947, two over Kashmir. And tensions escalated again this weekend in the Kashmir region, when soldiers exchanged gunfire killing at least four civilians. India also called off diplomatic talks with Pakistan after the Pakistani Ambassador met with separatist leaders from the disputed region. Can the two nuclear-armed neighbors find compromise?