Against the protocol
The Foreign Office has debunked Barkha Dutt’s story about a secret meeting between Nawaz Sharif and Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the last SAARC summit. There is no independent confirmation of the Indian journalist’s report either. One need not therefore accept every word in the report hook, line and sinker.
There is hardly anything objectionable in the reported meeting except for two details. First, the choice of the facilitator, who is an Indian business tycoon, and the involvement of Hussain Nawaz with him during Sharif’s visit to Delhi to attend Modi’s swearing in. If this has really happened, this would strengthen the charge of conflict of interest on the part of the Prime Minister. It is normal for countries to maintain back channel contacts even at the height of tensions. However, foreign dealings at the top level have to be institutionalised rather than treated as a personal affair whether the country is India or Saudi Arabia.
People trust their heads of government when they hold one-on-one talks during the summits because they are confident that the leaders will not let them down. No leader in Pakistan can broker a deal against national interest as a number of institutions keep an eye on what the leaders, civilians as well as military, are doing. Nawaz Sharif is no doubt keen on talks with India. So are most parliamentarians as well as Pakistan’s international friends and allies like China, the US and Russia besides the UN Sec Gen Ban Ki-moon. Sharif has, however, openly told the other side that there can be no talks without Kashmir on the agenda. Pakistan has invited Indian Foreign Minister to attend the Heart of Asia Conference next week in Islamabad to break the ice in mutual relations.
One wonders why critics kept mum when Ziaul Haq wrote off Siachin as a useless piece of land without a blade of grass on it or when Pervez Musharraf negotiated a plan on Kashmir with India while compromising on Pakistan’s historic stand on the dispute.