Zardari’s Dargah diplomacy ‘fruitful’

President Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday became the first Pakistani head of state since 2005 to visit India, on a one-day trip that he described as “very fruitful” in improving ties between the rivals.
During a visit billed as private but of great diplomatic significance, Zardari lunched with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and invited him to visit Pakistan. The meeting has received a cautious welcome from analysts who see it as another sign of improving relations between the bitter neighbours, but the allegations of Pakistani militant activity against India remain deeply problematic.
India continues to press Pakistan to prosecute the perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, blamed on the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which was founded by Hafiz Muhammad Saeed. Pakistan says it lacks sufficient evidence against Saeed. “We have had some very fruitful bilateral talks together,” Zardari said at a joint news conference during the first presidential trip to India since Pervez Musharraf visited seven years ago.
“We would like to have better relations with India. We spoke on all topics that we could,” added Zardari, who was accompanied by a large delegation including his son and Interior Minister Rehman Malik.
The lunch — with kebabs and curries from all over India, including the disputed region of Kashmir — was preceded by a 40-minute private conversation between the two leaders.
“I am very satisfied with the outcome of this visit,” Singh told reporters. “President Zardari has invited me to visit Pakistan and I’d be very happy to visit Pakistan at a mutually convenient date.”
He stressed that relations between the countries “should become normal. That is our common desire.”
Analysts had predicted little progress on sensitive topics such as Kashmir, or the presence of anti-India militant groups in Pakistan. Both were discussed, along with “the activities of Hafiz Saeed” and ways to increase trade between the countries, India’s Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai told reporters. A visa agreement that will simplify cross-border travel had been worked out and would be signed at a later date.
“Both felt that we need to move forward step by step,” Mathai said of the talks between the leaders, which will be followed by meetings between home and trade ministers in the coming months.
India broke off a slow-moving peace process to settle all outstanding problems with Pakistan after the Mumbai attacks, which left 166 people dead, but the two sides have since warily returned to the table. “This is a largely symbolic occasion and contentious subjects will be avoided,” said Brahma Chellaney, an analyst at New Delhi’s Centre for Policy Research, of the meeting Sunday.
Pakistan’s foreign policy is seen by many observers as the preserve of the powerful military, and Chellaney suggested Zardari wielded little real power.
“You can’t have substantive talks with someone who doesn’t run anything,” he said. Zardari later flew to a Sufi shrine in the town of Ajmer, 350 kilometres southwest of New Delhi, where he offered prayers at the renowned complex of mosques built around the shrine of Khawaja Moinuddin Chishti who died in 1236 AD.