The Hindu : Seize the moment

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Apr 29, 2003

Opinion

Opinion - Editorials

Seize the moment

INDIA AND PAKISTAN must build on the momentum that has been generated in the past one week following the Prime Minister's offer of the hand of friendship. The sudden upsurge of violence in the Valley underlines both the urgency of such measures to restore normality and the danger of loss of time. That these mindless killings have not dampened the optimism that Mr. Vajpayee's offer has generated is evidence of the region's weariness of violence and war. Considering the domestic pressures on both Governments, the two countries must seize the

opportunity to launch some bold initiatives. The prompt welcome that Mr. Vajpayee's offer has received from across the border needs to be consolidated and converted into perceivable gain. Mr. Vajpayee created the opening through an imaginative offer, notable for its timing and place and signalling the end of his Government's diplomatic rigidity. In his statement in Parliament two days later, Mr. Vajpayee did speak of conditions for resumption of the bilateral dialogue, clearly acknowledging the pressures from the hardliners in his party and Government. In the days following, Government leaders in Pakistan have responded positively, with the President, Pervez Musharraf, declaring unambiguously during the weekend that Mr. Vajpayee's was a "good offer" and that his Government would take it seriously.

As a first step to placing bilateral relations back on the path of normality, India should immediately restore the rail, road and air links that it severed in the wake of the attack on Parliament in December 2001. The decision to snap these links was an instant reaction to the shocking assault on the symbol of the country's democracy and formed part of the strong response through troop mobilisation and deployment that soon followed. But the non-restoration of these links would appear to be unjustified purely on humanitarian grounds in view of the enormous hardship it is causing to people on both sides of the border. Facilitating easier people-to-people contact and restoring normal trade links can form part of the chain of measures that the two countries should initiate even as they debate resumption of full diplomatic relations as a prelude to ending the current abnormality in relations. The step-by-step process can lead to a revival of the South Asian regional forum, SAARC, which has fallen a victim to India-Pakistan feuding. Pakistan has offered to advance a SAARC summit meeting it is to host. The much-postponed summit can be an ideal setting for the normalisation of relations between the two neighbours, erasing memories of the frozen faces of the summit in Kathmandu in January 2002.

Optimism notwithstanding, there must be awareness in both capitals that if they do not each go half way and shake hands, they will be inviting third-party intervention. There are sufficient signals that more than one third-party may be interested. The most powerful and concentrated challenge to bilateralism will come when the Group of 8 rich nations takes up the India-Pakistan issue in early June. Earlier, the subcontinent will be hosting the American Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage. The extraordinary global interest in a settlement of the Kashmir question arises from concerns over the dangers posed by the nuclear arms with both countries. If the weekend's dastardly attack on the local radio station in Srinagar was the terrorist gun's response to Mr. Vajpayee's olive branch and its grasping by Gen. Musharraf and his Government, the two countries must demonstrate the resolve to walk the path of dialogue and peace, sidelining the extremist elements who have a vested interest in stoking the fires between India and Pakistan.

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