The Hindu : What are the 'next steps' in Indo-Pak. ties?

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 01, 2003

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What are the 'next steps' in Indo-Pak. ties?

By Amit Baruah

NEW DELHI April 30. Two days after the telephone conversation between the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan, Atal Behari Vajpayee and Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, the "next steps'' in repairing the fractured bilateral relationship remain elusive.

The Foreign Office spokesman said that "fortunately'' he was only a spokesman and not a "soothsayer'' and, hence, could not say what would move forward (in the bilateral dynamic) and when.

In a sign that India would continue to press Pakistan on the issue of cross-border terrorism, he hoped that the Vajpayee-Jamali telephone conversation would contribute to that end.

The intention was to create a "conducive atmosphere'', which "necessarily requires'' an end to cross-border terrorism and the "dismantling'' of terrorist infrastructure.

The telephone conversation, he hoped, would contribute to this end.

The formulation seems to signal that India would continue to press Pakistan on the issue of cross-border terrorism while remaining open to the idea of forward movement on the "elements'' identified by Mr. Vajpayee and Mr. Jamali in Monday's telephonic talks.

These elements, the spokesman said, included people-to-people links, cultural exchanges, economic cooperation, civil aviation services and sporting exchanges.

Will India and Pakistan agree to a return of the High Commissioners? "We have to see the dynamics of the process and how these things move,'' the spokesman said. Specifics would be guesswork. The importance of economic cooperation was "self-evident''.

To a question that "specifics'' like restoring transport links and a return of the High Commissioners were well-known, the spokesman replied that it was too early at this stage to say what would be the "specifics''.

Clearly, there is an ongoing process of assessment in New Delhi (and, in all probability, in Islamabad as well) about the intentions of the other Government.

New Delhi is no doubt aware that while Mr. Jamali may have taken the initiative, the telephone call has the blessings of the Pakistani President, Pervez Musharraf. This, in a sense, should make the process easier for New Delhi.

As far as Pakistan is concerned, the contradictions between the "hard-line'' and "soft-line'' approaches (as was pointed out after the Agra summit) towards Islamabad in the Vajpayee Government would be something to factor in for future dealings.

In that context, the two countries (as per "tradition'' and "norm'') would be closely watching the statements coming out of both capitals while considering their next move.

The fact that Pakistan has grasped the "hand of friendship'' extended by Mr. Vajpayee in Srinagar is an indication that Islamabad, too, is under pressure for resuming the dialogue.

In the past Pakistan was setting conditions that a dialogue was possible only after "repression'' ended in Jammu and Kashmir. Today, that old position has no validity.

Since the October 1999 military coup, Indian policy on Pakistan has changed from "non-contact'' with the military regime to a "sudden invitation'' to Gen. Musharraf to hold talks in April 2001 in Agra.

Now it appears that Mr. Vajpayee has adopted a "middle path''.

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