Date:17/06/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/06/17/stories/2009061750100100.htm

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India, Pakistan set talks ball rolling

Siddharth Varadarajan

Terror still the primary issue but bilateral logjam ends

— Photo: PTI

THAW IN TIES: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari at a meeting in Yekaterinburg, Russia, on Tuesday.

Yekaterinburg: Terrorism was the “primary issue” five months ago when India suspended high-level interaction with Pakistan and remains so today. But Prime Minister Manmohan Singh broke the dialogue logjam on Tuesday, meeting President Asif Ali Zardari here and agreeing that the two Foreign Secretaries should discuss this issue so that the two leaders can decide how to take the bilateral relationship forward when they meet again mid-July at the Non-Aligned summit in Egypt.

With one eye presumably focused on those back home who might see the resumption of contact with Islamabad as a softening of India’s stand, Dr. Singh began what was meant to be a one-on-one meeting with Mr. Zardari in the full glare of journalists who had gathered to capture the photo-op. “I am very happy to meet you,” he told the Pakistani President after the two delegations had greeted each other, “but I must tell you quite frankly that I have come with the limited mandate of discussing how Pakistan can deliver on its assurances that its territory would not be used for terrorist attacks on India.”

The message delivered and duly noted by the media, officials from both sides rushed to clear the room, leaving the two principals alone for their private interaction without note takers.

Whatever its impact on domestic public opinion, the Prime Minister’s “public” airing of Indian concerns runs the risk of making Mr. Zardari’s life back home more difficult, though Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmud Qureshi took the awkwardness of the moment in his stride. Asked by reporters whether he felt Dr. Singh’s remarks were acerbic, he said that he did not think so. “We all agree that we should condemn terrorism and fight against it, no matter where it comes from,” he said, adding, “Be it from India, Pakistan, Britain or Africa.”

Briefing the media about the 40-minute-long meeting, Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon said the two leaders reviewed the bilateral relationship “which as you know remains under considerable stress, the primary cause of which is the terrorist attacks on India from Pakistani territory.”

He said the Prime Minister reiterated “the full extent of [India’s] expectation” that Pakistan would take “strong and effective action” to prevent terrorists from using its soil to stage attacks, that it act against the perpetrators of past attacks and dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism on its territory.

Mr. Menon said Mr. Zardari described his government’s efforts to deal with this menace “and also explained the problems that Pakistan faces in this regard.”

He said the two leaders also spoke about the potential of the relations, only a small portion of which had been tapped by the dialogue process. “But since we can’t wish away the factors that have disrupted the dialogue, they decided on this discussion between the two Foreign Secretaries.”