The Hindu : India in a bind over resumption of dialogue with Pakistan

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 16, 2002

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India in a bind over resumption of dialogue with Pakistan

By Amit Baruah

NEW DELHI OCT. 15. India finds itself in a bind as far as resuming dialogue with Pakistan is concerned. With international pressure mounting, the only public response from New Delhi is a loud "no" to talks with Pakistan.

This was conveyed to the National Security Adviser to the United States President, Condoleeza Rice, by her Indian counterpart, Brajesh Mishra, when she telephoned him last week in Copenhagen. Ms. Rice reportedly told him that with the elections in Pakistan and Jammu and Kashmir now over, India should resume talks with Pakistan.

Senior Government sources told this correspondent recently that "people" would not accept talks with Pakistan at a time when the BJP-led coalition itself had raised the ante against Islamabad. As New Delhi took a strident position against dialogue at the India-European Union summit in Copenhagen, the limits of "non-engagement'' were exposed. In fact, the stridency of the Indian position extended to intrusive comments on Pakistan's internal affairs — an action that can only elicit harsh responses from Islamabad. While India had every right to comment on Pakistani affairs, it was evident that New Delhi's position was dictated by the Pakistani President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf's comments on the killings in Gujarat and the BJP's role in them.

There is an inherent danger in the escalation of rhetoric; all internal affairs could become fair game for public comments between the two countries. The only defence New Delhi may have is: "they started it first". India, which has borne the brunt of terrorist attacks in Jammu and Kashmir since 1990 at the least, has legitimate concerns on what Islamabad and the Pakistani intelligence establishment have been engineering. But the problem it faces is that the U.S.-led international community sees the Kashmir and Pakistani elections as an advance in the path to dialogue to reduce tensions between the two South Asian neighbours.

Pressure to resume talks

In Copenhagen, the pressure mounted on India to exercise restraint, de-escalate and resume talks was intense. But New Delhi managed to make its point strongly. Given the fact that similar but separate comments have been made by the Americans, it would hardly be surprising if Washington and the European Union have been coordinating their positions as far as India is concerned.

If not dialogue, India and Pakistan must begin to end the current state of tension between them by permitting the return of the High Commissioners, withdrawing their troops and resuming all transport links snapped in December last.

India, which has legitimate reservations on holding talks with Pakistan because of continuing terrorist attacks, can reduce the pressure on it by resuming some contacts. The current state of `no-contact' cannot continue indefinitely. There may be sections of the Government which are keen on relaxing the tough posture, but feel that the pressure of public opinion from the "people" will be too much.

In a sense, the international community, too, needs to focus on the resumption of contacts between the two countries, which, in the current scenario, could help in the process of confidence-building. All this, however, does not mean that India should stop stressing on Pakistani sponsorship on terrorism. In fact, India needs to build a solid dossier on the Pakistani role in Kashmir and others and present it to principal interlocutors.

As New Delhi struggles with its Pakistan dilemma, the parliamentary strength demonstrated by the Islamist parties in Pakistan needs to be considered very seriously. If the "jehadi mindset" begins to dominate the Pakistani establishment even more, then India needs to think quickly about the timing of talks with Pakistan. And, after suggesting a "band" of dates for the SAARC summit in Islamabad in January, New Delhi must go ahead with the visit of the Prime Minister, A.B. Vajpayee, to Pakistan. At the August meeting of Foreign Ministers in Kathmandu, India correctly said the SAARC process would go on irrespective of differences with Islamabad. The Prime Minister must travel to Islamabad. It is the least that can be done for South Asia.

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