The Hindu : `Safety nets with Pak. not working satisfactorily'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 13, 2002

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`Safety nets with Pak. not working satisfactorily'

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI APRIL 12. The risk of military escalation between India and Pakistan has considerably increased in the recent years. The safety nets such as military-to-military hotlines that in the past helped defuse tensions are no longer working satisfactorily, according to a report of a meeting of the BALUSA group which met in Lahore in February.

Indian, Pakistani and U.S. members of BALUSA who at their tenth meeting discussed "Re-engagement and Beyond'' felt that acts by `spoilers', who were present in both India and Pakistan and who stood to gain from the deteriorating relations between the two countries, could provoke a dangerous escalation before the governments were absolved of blame for any incident.

The report, prepared by Shirin Tahir-Kheli, a member of BALUSA, and published recently by the Foreign Policy Institute, Washington, states that participants discussed "the circumstances that led to the military deployment and the issues that had to be addressed between the leaders of the two countries before the de-escalation could occur''. It was felt that "both the countries have to work to ensure that the same conditions as exist today do not re-emerge which require addressing underlying concerns on both sides''.

It is important that both nations focus on why the Lahore and Agra processes collapsed and that any future round be appreciably different in their handling of the issues and the process. According to the report, "while neither side expects the Kashmir dispute to be settled in a hurry, an interim period of talks can be the time for settling other issues, thus building confidence on both sides''.The BALUSA members felt that a future meeting between the head of the Indian and Pakistani intelligence services (RAW and ISI) in a third country would be helpful in establishing a working relationship on the cross-border issues.

On nuclear issues, the report states that participants at the meeting felt that there was a need for transparency in the nuclear policy decision-making process to establish who takes decisions on nuclear weapon issues. Transparency, a through pre-notification, was needed in the deployment of weapons. Greater education of the political leadership on what it means to own nuclear weapons was also required. It was also felt that both India and Pakistan could benefit from discussions with the older nuclear powers on the implications of being new nuclear powers.

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