Foreign Secretaries could meet at SAARC forum

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, JULY 22. What after Agra? This question is uppermost in the mind of every Indo-Pak. watcher. The post-summit posturing in Islamabad and New Delhi have only added to the suspense.

Some indications of the thinking of Islamabad on how it proposes to continue the Agra journey could be available in the next three weeks. The Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan are expected to meet on the sidelines of the SAARC Standing Committee meeting, likely to be held from August 6 to 9 in Colombo. Of course, it is based on the assumption that it will not get postponed again.

Indications are that the Indian Foreign Secretary, Ms. Chokila Iyer, and her Pakistani counterpart, Mr. Inamul Haq, could meet on the sidelines of the SAARC meeting for a tete-a-tete. Developments in the post-summit phase are bound to be the topic of the informal meeting.

As things stand today, the Indian side has no reason to be encouraged by the attitude of the military Government after the curtains came down on the Agra summit. Not only the rhetoric of the Pakistan President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, but also the developments in Kashmir are of concern to New Delhi.

For the first time since Pakistan announced its policy of `maximum restraint' on the Line of Control (LoC) there have been charges on both sides of artillery firing. Each has accused the other of firing without provocation.

What is worse is the stepped-up violence in the Kashmir valley. The violence of the past three days poses a serious threat to the fragile ``understanding'' arrived at Agra.

A clear picture of what actually happened in the Valley is not available yet. But as a senior Indian diplomat said the minimum New Delhi would expect from Islamabad was an unequivocal condemnation of incidents involving the killing of innocent civilians.

``If Pakistan is really serious in carrying forward the caravan of peace from Agra, the military establishment should send out a clear signal that it does not approve of mindless acts of violence irrespective of who is involved. Otherwise how can we be expected to even consider picking up the threads from Agra,'' the Indian diplomat asked.

What upset the Indian Government more than anything else about Gen. Musharraf was what was termed as the ``bizarre commando concept of diplomacy''. New Delhi is clearly not impressed with the manner in which the Pakistan delegation tried to conduct diplomacy bypassing the ``traditional channels and normal procedures''.

``It is indeed illogical. Agreements/declarations (Shimla and Lahore) that have been signed are adjured. A draft declaration that was not agreed upon is said to be the basis for political action. Even of that, the portion that was not agreed upon is taken as the main point. And then it is argued that this must be the test of sincerity on the other side,'' the diplomat said. All this only shows that it is a long haul in the process towards normalisation of ties between the two nations.

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Section  : International
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