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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  India leaves door ajar for further talks with Pakistan
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India leaves door ajar for further talks with Pakistan

India and Pakistan PMs likely to meet at UNGA next month; Modi could visit Pakistan in 2016 for South Asian summit

Foreign minister Sushma Swaraj has described India-Pakistan relations like travelling on a pot-holed road. Photo: MintPremium
Foreign minister Sushma Swaraj has described India-Pakistan relations like travelling on a pot-holed road. Photo: Mint

New Delhi: After several days of bitter exchanges, India and Pakistan on Saturday called off national security advisor-level talks slated for 23-24 August, the first official level discussions in months set to focus on terrorism.

This is the second time in 12 months that the efforts of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government to engage with the Nawaz Sharif-led government in Pakistan have run aground.

India however has left ajar the door to further talks. The pointer to this came from India’s foreign minister Sushma Swaraj, who on Saturday set the red lines for the discussions between the two NSAs in New Delhi.

“The journey of India-Pakistan relations is like travelling on pot-holed road. So, there are bumps along the way, sometimes the vehicle goes out of control, sometimes the tyres get punctured but somehow it manages to steady itself and keep going," said Swaraj. “Dialogue is the only way to resolve all issues. War is no answer for these problems. Dialogue processes will start and stop and start and stop... I had said once before that in diplomacy, there are no full stops."

Analysts have differing views on the next course of action—especially on who should take the next step and how.

“The real question to ask is why does Pakistan insist on meeting the Hurriyat (Kashmiri separatists), when India has conveyed that it does not want Pakistan to do so," said Vivek Katju, who was formerly in-charge of the Pakistan desk in the ministry of external affairs and also a former ambassador of India to Kabul.

“Nowhere in the world do visiting delegations seek to meet separatists or are allowed to do so," he said, stating that the onus was now on Pakistan to look at ways to reach out to India.

Katju’s remarks come in the wake of Pakistan on Saturday blaming India for setting terms for talks—that the two NSAs, Sartaj Aziz of Pakistan and Ajit Doval of India, would restrict themselves to discussing terrorism only and Pakistan should not meet Kashmiri separatists—as reasons for calling off the discussions.

As per Pakistan, centring the NSA dialogue on terrorism was a ploy by India to delay discussions on other issues, including what Pakistan termed the core issue of Kashmir.

India, on the other hand, was firm that any talks would be at a bilateral level—without Pakistan consulting the Hurriyat or Kashmiri separatists—as agreed to under the 1972 Simla Agreement signed between the two nations after the 1971 war.

Swaraj was also clear that according to what was agreed to during a meeting of the Indian and Pakistan prime ministers in Ufa, Russia on 10 July, the two NSAs would discuss only terrorism. This was because it was felt that terrorism, as well as ceasefire violations along the border, contrary to the terms of a 2003 agreement to keep peace along the borders, would not be an environment conducive to discussing Kashmir or any other dispute, Swaraj told a press conference in New Delhi on Saturday.

Looking ahead, former foreign secretary Lalit Mansingh sees more opportunities for the two sides to discuss future plans of engagement, starting with the visit of the two prime ministers to New York for United Nations General Assembly next month.

This could give an opportunity for the external affairs ministers or national security advisors or officials to meet, he said.

With Modi agreeing to travel to Pakistan in 2016 for a South Asian regional summit, that could be another chance for the two both countries to take a step forward, he said.

C. Uday Bhaskar, director at the Centre for Policy Studies, a New Delhi-based think tank, was of the view that India should have a comprehensive relook at its approach to engaging with Pakistan.

“There is a case for reviving back channel, or Track II dialogue, with the security professionals on both sides or with the retired Pakistani army top-brass on security-related matters," said Bhaskar, pointing to the 2004-07 period when such talks yielded a possible solution on Kashmir.

Former Pakistan foreign minister Khurshid Kasuri, who was in office during 2002-2007, has been on record that the two sides were near a possible agreement on Kashmir, courtesy the efforts of quiet back-channel diplomacy.

Bhaskar also sought a relook at the status of the Hurriyat. “Personally, I would support the quarantining of any separatist faction and shrinking the political and media space accorded to the Hurriyat," he said.

Further, India could take the advantage of certain external factors, like the US recently linking financial support to Pakistan with military action against the Islamist groups, like the Haqqani network, Bhaskar said. This was a reference to news reports, such as the one in the Pakistani English language newspaper Dawn on Thursday, that the US has blocked the disbursement of the next tranche of Coalition Support Fund (CSF), or reimbursements to Pakistan, for operations and maintenance costs incurred in direct support of US operations in Afghanistan since 2001.

So far, about $13 billion has been reimbursed to Pakistan under this arrangement, stated the Dawn report.

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Published: 23 Aug 2015, 04:33 PM IST
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