What would have been better
Hope for resumption of talks between Pakistan and India had been rekindled after the meeting between the two prime ministers at Ufa on the sidelines of the SCO Summit in July 2015. It was expected that the conference between the National Security Advisers of Pakistan and India scheduled for August 24, 2015, would pave the way for establishing a roadmap for the recommencement of the Composite Dialogue between the erstwhile hostile neighbours. The NSA parleys were focusing on a one point agenda: “to discuss issues related to terrorism” and even exchange dossiers of each other’s alleged involvement in terror attacks.
Unfortunate, developments in the run up to the expected meeting sullied the atmosphere. Cross border shelling across the LoC, terror incidents in Udhampur and Gurdaspur in India and an increasing war of words between the two made the situation murkier instead of paving the way for talks. The straw that broke the camel’s back was Pakistan’s insistence on introducing the core issue of Kashmir while India wanted to limit the talks to terrorism only.
Pakistan had to call off hosting the 61st Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference (CPC), scheduled to be held at Islamabad from September 30 to October 8 because India demanded that Pakistan issue an invitation to the Speaker of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly
It is a matter of perception because Mr Sartaj Aziz maintains that all he wanted to do was set the agenda for future talks while India issued an ultimatum that if the NSA’s meeting was to take place, it would be limited to discussing terrorism only. Sadly the talks were called off by Pakistan, which did not wish to ignore the Kashmiris and an Indian external affairs ministry directive forbidding the Pakistani High Commissioner in New Delhi from inviting leaders from All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) to a reception to meet the Pakistani NSA was deemed out of line and tantamount to introducing a new condition.
Realistically speaking, the meeting of the NSAs was scheduled to take place exactly a year after the talks between the foreign secretaries, scheduled for August 25, 2014, were scuttled because of the Pakistani High Commissioner meeting the APHC leaders in New Delhi prior to the foreign secretaries’ conference. In the 365 days following it, other than the meeting on the sidelines of SCO at Ufa, no progress towards peace was made. It needs to be decided whether nuances and gestures are more important or the substance in the tête-à-tête between officials of both sides. If the NSA s’ meeting was to cover terrorism alone, it should have been allowed to continue on the same note. It could have been left to the next round of meetings between the foreign secretaries to discuss the core issues or take them further. However sympathetic and committed we may be towards the core issue of Kashmir, we are not helping matters by letting the impasse continue.
Let us examine a few other recent developments. Pakistan had to call off hosting the 61st Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference (CPC), scheduled to be held at Islamabad from September 30 to October 8 because India demanded that Pakistan issue an invitation to the Speaker of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly. The Speaker of Pakistan’s National Assembly, who was unanimously elected president of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) in October 2014 at the 60th CPC, held in Cameroon which decided that the next conference of the 53-member body would be held in Islamabad, refused to issue an invitation stating that Jammu and Kashmir is a disputed territory. India, on the other hand, quoted precedence that Pakistan had invited a Jammu and Kashmir delegation to the 2007 CPC.
Editorials and news reports in various international media continue to depict Pakistan to be the aggressor and abettor of terrorism
Irrespective of the fact that Pakistan has taken a principled stand, the secretariat of the CPC, the Speaker of Bangladesh Assembly, the current CPA chairperson, and other members had also requested Pakistan to review the decision. Ultimately, Pakistan had to cancel the CPC, missing a magnificent opportunity to project Pakistan’s soft image as some 550 delegates from member countries were due in the federal capital to attend the conference, belying terror threats.
Editorials and news reports in various international media continue to depict Pakistan to be the aggressor and abettor of terrorism. This bleak milieu calls for Pakistan’s foreign office developing a concerted plan to improve its soft image abroad and dispel negative aspersions. Secondly, it should not be expected that any overture towards peace with India will resolve the festering sores in a single meeting. A step by step approach may be more practical. Thirdly, both Nawaz Sharif and Narendra Modi are pragmatic leaders and know their agenda of enhancing regional co-operation in South Asia will remain unfulfilled without a thaw in India-Pakistan tensions. Modi has accepted Pakistan’s invitation to attend a regional summit in Islamabad next year. The trip will not only be his first visit to Pakistan since coming to power, but would also be the first visit of an Indian leader to Pakistan since Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s trip in 2004. Pakistan needs to build on the dialogue process to resolve its problems.
