Tackle the easier issues now, leaving the complicated ones for later
The process of improving relations with India has been slower than expected. Earlier this week, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s envoy Shaharyar Khan was in Delhi to begin preparations for the agenda of the expected meeting between Sharif and Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. The word from the Indian foreign office is that the two shall meet on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in September. Singh has previously skipped the UNGA meetings in 2012, but is expected to go this year. With the Indian government already undertaking preparations for the agenda of the meeting, it is still uncertain if Singh would visit Pakistan before the May 2014 general elections in India. The Nawaz Sharif-led PML-N government has taken the bold step of putting thorny issues like Kashmir, Siachen and Sir Creek to Track-II diplomacy and work on soft matters such as people-to-people interaction and the economic ties via formal diplomatic channels.
While the decision itself is bold and the hope is that the September meeting shall produce some success and ease relations between the two neighbours, ideally either Singh or Sharif should visit the alternate’s country. Observers are still divided over whether the Singh-Sharif meeting in the UNGA would result in the revival of the composite dialogue. With the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) opposition waiting to pounce, the Singh-Gandhi team is determined to avoid a defensive appearance in its foreign policy. The real importance of such a meeting will lie in how it is perceived by domestic actors on either side of the border, especially with PM Sharif trying to assert his stamp on foreign policy in the coming government. The PM’s advisor Sartaj Aziz speaking at Brunei said India must seize the initiative at its top level to improve relations as he renewed Nawaz Sharif’s invite for Singh to visit Pakistan.
The Indian side has demanded ‘specific steps’ from Pakistan for forward movement in Indo-Pak relations. Specific steps are most certainly required on both sides of the fence. Sharif appears to be serious in fulfilling his election promise that he would pick up the threads from the peace process in 1999, when former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee made a historic visit to Lahore. During the Musharraf period, officials said progress on Kashmir was made through back channel diplomacy and a similar path shall be treaded now. There has been much to dispute between the two neighbours since 1999: the Kargil war, the Mumbai attacks and scuffles around the Line of Control. Nonetheless the PPP-led government of yore was able to stabilize relations by offering concessions and going ahead with easing of the visa process. The Sharif government takes on a much more stable relationship with India. The UNGA meeting shall be a good opportunity to continue on this much-needed path.