Prospects of talks poor, says ex-Pak. Foreign Secretary

By Amit Baruah

ISLAMABAD, JUNE 9. The former Pakistani Foreign Secretary, Dr. Humayun Khan, sees little hope for a dialogue with India as leaders in both countries are still to persuade their hardliners.

In an article in The Friday Times, Dr. Khan said: ``Frankly, I see little hope in Pakistan. The true believers are unlikely to change their (anti-India) thinking. They will never concede that they might have been wrong all along''.``I have only one basic contention. Neither India nor Pakistan can achieve its full potential unless it learns to live in peace with the other. Problems between them will never be solved through confrontation,'' he said.

Calling for a dialogue under an umbrella of peace and security, where Pakistan could raise the Kashmir issue and India infiltration, he wrote: ``At present, the priorities for Pakistan should be clear. The country has to pull itself out of an economic abyss, a shattered polity, a law and order situation bordering on anarchy, sectarian strife, the threat from religious extremists and a hundred other ills. ``Our international standing is at its nadir. We have to restore and raise the stature of our own country before we can even hope to influence events beyond our borders.''

Commenting on the hardliners' view that India wanted to reduce Pakistan to the status of Nepal or Bhutan, Dr. Khan argued that the status of the country depended more on what Pakistanis did with it than what India could do.

Referring to the ``problem'' faced by the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, in agreeing to a dialogue, the article said: ``.... he cannot ignore the rightist section in his own party. He tried it at Lahore, it did not work and he had to face severe criticism, bordering on ridicule. He simply cannot afford to be seen as vindicating the assertion of Pakistan's military strategists that force will bring India to the negotiating table.``General (Pervez) Musharraf, for his part, has offered an unconditional dialogue but he occasionally reverts to the position that the only issue to be discussed is Kashmir. He advocates a peaceful solution, yet cannot unambiguously concede that Pakistan will abandon the freedom fighters and revert to the Shimla and Lahore process. International opinion is firmly on India's side. Our proclamations that we provide only political, diplomatic and moral support are not believed by anyone. Kargil effectively stripped us of our credibility,'' the former Foreign Secretary stated.

``The other factor deterring Pakistan from abandoning the jehad is the fear that these very forces will turn on Pakistan and cannot be controlled. In essence, of course, this means an abdication of state authority. More sinister is the suspicion that these forces have strong support within the Army,'' he said. ``Thus we find that the prospects are not very encouraging. With the Army ruling Pakistan, military strategy will continue to be seen as co-terminus with national policy. The same experts who have fashioned failed strategies will continue to influence the policies of the present,'' Dr. Khan added.

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