The Hindu : Pressure on India to resume talks with Pak.?

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Oct 20, 2002

National

National

Pressure on India to resume talks with Pak.?

By Amit Baruah

NEW DELHI Oct. 19. Space for diplomatic manoeuvre has opened up after India announced its decision to "redeploy'' its troops from the International Border and Pakistan announced a "withdrawal'' of its forces in response.

There is little doubt that New Delhi's decision to pull back its troops was a bold move — given the ratcheting up of the rhetoric between India and Pakistan — and backing down is obviously a difficult task.

The international community, clearly, had been pressuring India to pull back its troops, as it was New Delhi which mobilised its military after the December 13 attack on Parliament. And, now pressure seems to be mounting on New Delhi to begin a dialogue. The Americans, the British, the French, the Japanese and the Germans — all of whom have welcomed the pullback decision — are now urging India to agree to a dialogue with Pakistan.

The West is not satisfied with the successful elections that have been conducted in Jammu and Kashmir. The overwhelming impression that India and Pakistan, both nuclear powers, are not responsible and must "engage'' if a future crisis is to be averted, persists. And, in a language that should please Pakistan, the West wants that the "root'' causes of the conflict be addressed — for too long the "symptoms'' and not the "disease'' have been dealt with.

The chief obstacle in the path of re-engagement, mobilisation of troops, has now been removed. The "summit'' approach to dialogue — Lahore and Agra being examples — have shown that there is no substitute for solid diplomatic groundwork for high-level meetings. All that one should aim for at this stage is a resumption of contacts; not pitch for high-profile "summitry.'' Foreign Secretary-level contacts could be one option.

Of course, there are clear domestic aspects to the whole scenario. If — and there is no evidence to rule them out — attacks such as the ones on the Akshardham or Parliament take place, India and Pakistan can bid goodbye to the dialogue path. The Indian decision also means that Pakistan must respond on issues such as overflights — after India offered to open up its skies, there has been no signal from Islamabad.

Also, some gesture from the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, on India's concerns relating to terrorism, will demonstrate that Islamabad is serious in addressing this issue. The "jehadis" may have gone "underground'' for the moment in Pakistan but there is little doubt that their capabilities to strike remains. If Gen. Musharraf makes some gesture, New Delhi can tell its domestic audience that there is some cooperation from Pakistan on this all-crucial issue from the Indian security standpoint.

In a sense, Pakistan's refusal to respond to India's demands on cross-border terrorism implies that the military establishment's hands are not clean. And domestic politics in Pakistan is also a stumbling block, given the growing power of extremist elements.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National