So much for ‘breaking the ice’
It did not take long for the thaw to begin unravelling. Nawaz and Modi may well have ‘broken the ice’ in Paris – on the sidelines of the climate summit – but other tentacles of the Indian government are clearly not going to let any kind of momentum, or expectations, build. The timing of India’s Afghan ambassador’s claim regarding Pakistan’s new Haqqani angle, for example, is interesting. They now say that Pakistan’s ‘establishment’ is pushing the Haqqanis all the way to the top of the Afghan Taliban just as talk about talks is again in the news.
Surely Indian intelligence – supposedly – could not have found such information just as Nawaz and Ghani, too, were shaking hands and talking in Paris. Ice was allegedly broken on the Afghan front as well. Ghani accepted coming to Islamabad for the Heart of Asia conference and, more importantly, to talk once more about negotiations with Pakistan as well with the Taliban. The Americans have also become more active about such talks of late. There seems a common realisation, once again, that the window for a negotiated settlement might last till spring at the latest, when the winter lull subsides and fighting resumes.
And the Indians are naturally not too happy. New Delhi’s aggressive posturing towards Pakistan, therefore, continues. The hyped Nawaz-Modi handshake was, after all, a rarity. Otherwise the same pressure tactics are at play. There is still no confirmation about the Indian external affairs minister’s participation at the Islamabad conference. And, according to reports in the Indian press, the cricket series is all but off the table as well. If all attempts at reducing the temperature, even at the highest level, are undone so swiftly, there is really very little chance of the two countries finding any common ground in the foreseeable future at least.
