Pathankot progress

Amid all the irritants

It’s not often that Congress in opposition in India accuses a sitting BJP government of “surrendering to Pakistan” while Delhi defends Islamabad for making “serious efforts towards investigating”. Yet that is precisely why scenes in and outside the Pathankot air base yesterday were indicative of the will on both sides to see this episode through. Problems, meanwhile, continue to mount. The way popular reaction, especially mainstream media, on both sides was so against this cooperation since the beginning, Pakistan’s SIT visiting Pathankot is a small victory in itself.

However, as far as real, intrinsic cooperation is concerned, the test might have just begun. So far the Indians have been pretty convinced of direct JeM involvement – all the way to the top – but the Pakistanis have felt that the evidence left a little something to be desired. But now that quantifiable information will change hands, and there will be a degree of joint effort in connecting more dots, it will be interesting and instructive to see how far which side is willing to bend. Both will remember, of course, that Pathankot is essential to the peace process and a spanner in the works here will put the talks in the freezer once again.

That is why the Indian spy surprise could hardly have come at a worse time. And now that Kulbhushan Yadav has sung like a canary, New Delhi will have some serious explaining to do one way or the other. Yet it is essential for Pakistan to handle this issue with maturity and forcefully and not give into chaotic hysteria – like India in similar situations. It is best to add up the evidence and simply let the law take its course. How the Indians respond to such ‘due course’ will tell a lot about which direction they now want this relationship to take. For now, though, both players must keep their eye on the greater objective.