First step in a long march

Improving relations between India and Pakistan

The exchange of letters between the two prime ministers was something new in South Asian diplomacy. So were the gifts sent by them to each other’s mother. The meeting between the foreign secretaries on August 25 in Islamabad is however the first major step towards improvement of relations after the Modi-Sharif talks in May. The Indian bureaucracy seemed to be reluctant to hold secretary level parleys. After the May talks, Indian officials insisted that the two sides had merely agreed that the foreign secretaries would “remain in touch” rather than meet as Sharif had maintained.

The forthcoming meeting is significant because it comes in the wake of border incidents that have caused enough bad blood. It was in fact announced a day after an Indian soldier was killed on LoC. Border clashes in January 2013 had led the Congress government to break off the dialogue. The reopening of the talks would not have been possible without a determination on the part of the two prime ministers to improve ties.

As the two secretaries agreed in the telephonic conversation, the talks need to be result oriented. A foremost task should be to seek an end to the border incidents. Any serious happening on the LoC or the working boundary can again cause a setback to peace process. That incidents continue to take place despite decisions taken by the DGMOs in December last year, is a highly serious matter. There is a need under the circumstances for both governments to assert themselves. Hopefully the foreign secretaries’ moot would lay the groundwork for a meeting between the two prime ministers on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in September.

It would be premature to entertain high expectations from the August moot. There are enough vested interests in media, right wing parties and sections of establishment on both sides that stands in the way of improvement of relations. It would require sustained efforts on both sides to overcome the hurdles.