<i>Has Indo-Pakistan ministerial meeting made headway? </i>

2 July 2010, 18:00 PM

Zaglul Ahmed Chowdhury

THE just-concluded ministerial level meeting between the two perennially hostile south Asian neighbours India and Pakistan was the focus of many eyes for a variety of reasons. The meeting in Islamabad, was the first of its kind since the Mumbai attack in November, 2008 that sent their topsy-turvy bilateral ties to the lowest level in many years. When India's Home Minister met his Pakistani counterpart they faced an uphill task to take the spirit of the New Delhi-Islamabad ties to a scale often described by both sides as "normal". Indo-Pakistan ties are generally characterized by enmity and belligerence, but this relationship also produces bilateral cooperation in many areas notwithstanding their differences owing to several disputes. The incident came as a big setback in the process of normalisation of ties between the two neighbours as it practically disrupted all links. However, slowly and gradually the situation improved to a point that made the Indian home minister's trip to Pakistan possible. Fortunately, the ministerial meeting was preceded by a meeting of the foreign secretaries of the two countries, also in the Pakistan capital, and parleys among the top diplomats helped make the atmosphere of the talks of the ministers conducive to discussing complex issues. Incidentally, the timing of the Indo-Pakistan talks coincided with a meeting of the interior ministers of the SAARC nations and this also cast a favourable impact on the arduous discussions of Mr.Chidambram and Mr.Malik as they took up sensitive and thorny issues. At the end of the discussions, both ministers termed the outcome of the talks, "positive" even though the two sides reiterated their positions on some vexing issues related to the "Mumbai" episode. True, the first ever visit of an Indian minister to Pakistan since 26/11 went off fairly well, given the complexity of the matters involved. It will certainly help thaw the somewhat tense relationship, but the question remains, has it really made a headway in improving bilateral ties? After months of accusations and counter-accusations after the Mumbai attacks, Pakistan agreed to punish the mastermind behind it. It has taken several suspects into custody. Hafeez Mohammad Saeed, a leader of "Laskar-e-Taiba" has been singled out by New Delhi as the main planner who demanded his punishment by Pakistan. Islamabad put him under house arrest but the Lahore high court ruled his detention illegal, which was subsequently upheld by the Pakistan Supreme Court. This has dampened efforts towards normalizing of ties. Pakistan says it wants to take Hafeez into custody but has no control over the judiciary. Besides, Pakistan feels that New Delhi has not provided sufficient evidence of the involvement of Hafeez and others in the attack a contention India firmly denies, saying all the evidence have been submitted to Islamabad. These differences undoubtedly clouded the environment of the Chidambram-Malik talks and as such much progress could hardly be expected from the discussions. The Indian minister has urged Pakistan to take more adequate measures against the mastermind of the attack since the steps taken so far is considered by New Delhi to be too little. Several accused are on trial in Pakistan for planning the attacks while the attacker, Ajmal Kashab, who survived and faced a long trial in Mumbai, was given death sentence. As expected, all these issues came up for discussions between the two home ministers and it is also understood that the two sides stuck to their grounds on several other bilateral issues as well the old and intractable "Kashmir" problem not excluded. The Indian Prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has said that his country wants to improve ties with its neighbour and stresses that New Delhi's overtures must be adequately matched by Islamabad by taking appropriate actions in different fields mainly against perpetrators of terrorism in India including that in Mumbai. His Pakistani counterpart, Yousuf Raja Gilani, reciprocated saying Islamabad would spare no efforts in that direction, but it has its own points of view that need to be understood by New Delhi. Against this background, nothing substantial was expected from the Islamabad meeting. But there is no denying that this has definitely improved the existing climate in bilateral relationship that was badly shattered following the 26/11 incident. India obviously is bitter against Pakistan following the Mumbai attack and Pakistan needs to help heal this wound, although it denies any complicity by its government agencies in the attack. Chidambram-Malik meeting may not have produced anything tangible, but this will certainly contribute to developing confidence building, an imperative at this particular time. The two countries have other problems to discuss including differences on the mechanism of sharing the waters of the Indus. When Indian external affairs minister S.M.Krisha visits Pakistan at the invitation of his Pakistani counterpart Mehmood Shah Qureshi for an important trip in mid July, the entire gamut of bilateral issues is expected to come up for review with a view to removing the impediments standing in the way of better ties. It may be also asking too much to expect anything remarkable to emerge from that meeting because of the complex nature of their bilateral disputes. Nevertheless, discussions are indications of "progress" and these help minimise misunderstanding regardless of the lack of resolution of the contentious matters. When viewed from that perspective, the Indo-Pakistan home ministers' meeting may be viewed as useful for both the countries towards confidence building measures. The author is a senior journalist and columnist on international affairs.