If the war of words between India and Pakistan before foreign secretary Nirupama Rao’s meeting with Salman Bashir in New Delhi next Thursday is any indication, the tentative engagement is doomed to fail.
Both sides appear to have entirely different perspectives of what they will bring to the table. Both are playing to domestic opinions.
While New Delhi is going out of its way to convince Indians that the foreign secretaries will talk only terror, Pakistan is convincing its nationals that Kashmir and water are the major issues. It is to be seen if either government has the nerve to go beyond its stated position.
Islamabad is furious with foreign minister SM Krishna’s public statements that New Delhi’s only focus is terror and getting Islamabad to stop allowing its soil to be used for attacks on India.
“Our position is that all issues will be on the table and that this is the first step towards resumption of the composite dialogue,” a senior Pakistani diplomat said.
In fact, according to reports, prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has told Richard Holbrooke, the US special envoy for Af-Pak, that Pakistan is committed to peace in the region and that the government is “making sincere efforts to resume the composite dialogue”. But he “regretted that the vibes emanating from the other side have not been encouraging”.
Highly-placed sources in the Indian government said Thursday’s talks were primarily aimed at building trust between the two countries and future talks will depend on what Pakistan delivers. The talks will not touch on the composite dialogue but will be a test case to see if Islamabad is willing to cooperate on destroying terror infrastructure. “We are fully conscious of the complexities involved in the process and are adopting a nuanced approach to the dialogue.”
India is also aware of the fact that the military in Pakistan has become much stronger and wants nothing but tension between the two nuclear rivals. Pandering to that sentiment can only help those opposed to peace. New Delhi believes what is required now are confidence-building measurers that will lead to trust between the two sides.
Meanwhile, government sources clarified that Pakistan would be asked to provide voice samples of Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Zarar Shah, Abu al-Qama, Shahid Jamil Riaz, Hammad Amin Sadiq, Younus Anjum and Jamil Ahmed. The samples would be matched with phone intercepts recorded during the Mumbai attack.
Investigations into Indian Mujahideen’s links with Pakistani groups will also be raised, so will be the issues of increase in infiltration and flooding the border states with fake currency.
