Men, Matters & Memories
M L Kotru
Time probably for the big, fat Indo-Pak file to be pulled out of the deep freeze it has been consigned to. Time to look out for ways to unfreeze the deadlocked dialogue. Time also to overcome past prejudices,insurmountable as they have often seemed,and to make a fresh start,yes,even as the skeptics on both sides suggest that deep freeze is exactly the state Indo-Pak relations should be in.
Time also for Prime Minister Modi to demonstrate that his invitation to his Pakstani counterpart, Mr Nawaz Sharif,alongwith leaders of several neighbouring countries, to be present at his swearing-in ceremony was no mere knee-jerk reaction.
In the ten months between then and now much water has flowed down the many shared rivers,many displays of temper made including,to me, the senseless exercise of cancelling the foreign secretary talks on the spurious ground of Kashmiri separatist groups meeting with the Pak High Commissioner the day before the Nawaz visit when such meetings had virtually become a routine during or before such high level exchanges.
At a time when Narendra Modi has made a virtue of reaching out to leaders of countries as far apart as Brazil and Australia, not to mention the US,Europe, China, Japan etc, the omission of Indo-Pak contacts has stuck out as a sore thumb .
This, at a time when momentous changes are taking place in countries in the neighborhood, notably Afghanistan.Pakistan itself has been faced with grave threats by terror outfits like the Pakistani Taliban who have converted the Pakhtunkhwa province (former nwfp) into a virtual killing field.
It is also a known fact that Washington too is keen that new Delhi and Islamabad get talking. the US Secretary of State John Kerry has said as much on occasions , suggesting resumption of the broken dialogue between the two. The subject cropped up during the Modi-Obama talks as well in Washington and later in Delhi.
Observers on both sides do believe that should Modi decide to engage Pakistan seriously the chances of the dialogue moving forward are much brighter. Atal Bihari Vajpayee nearly pulled it off in his talks with then Pakistani military ruler, Gen. Musharraf in Agra before they hit a road block. Manmohan Singh did indeed speak later of a situation that would render borders meaningless but all that has remained so much talk in the air. Never mind the fact that a couple of road links in Jammu and Kashmir were opened during that time to limited trans-border traffic.
Vajpayee too had a similar,perhaps a broader vision,prompting him to undertake, during one of those peace-making seasons that have peren- ially marked Indo-Pak relations, a bus journey to Lahore to be received there by who else but the self-same Nawaz Sharif.
Like it or not, Modi, like Vajpayee, is perceived to represent the hardline right wing view on Indo-Pak affairs and ironically therefore strong enough to break – the gordian knot. According to this perception a breakthrough achieved under Modi’s watch would have automatic acceptance in both countries.
Whatever the merit of this argument the truth is that given his oft-stated commitment to improving relations with the country’s immediate neighbours modi,should his rss linkages permit it, is better placed than most others to push the Indo-Pak agenda in the right direction.
Modi’s latest effort to give the dialogue with our neighbour on the west a forward push must be seen as a cautious move on his part- testing the waters,as it were. hence the effort not to rouse high expectation, the Foreign Secretary S.Jaishankar’s visit to Pakistan on March 3 has thus been made a part of a larger saarc initiative; Mr Jaishankar will visit Bhutan on March 1,Bangladesh March 2,Pakistan March 3 and Afghanistan March 4, a part officially of a saarc review against the backdrop of an earlier initiative in this regard by the Prime Minister and the External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.
The Pakistan visit takes place exactly seven months after the cancellation of the Foreign Secretary level talks then scheduled to be held oin Islamabad.the Indian foreign office though has clarified that the saarc review context of the foreign secretary’s visit does not rule out discussion on other bilateral issue.
The Indians have made it clear that the foreign secretary would be ready to talk to his Pakistani counterpart on all outstanding issues in accordance with the Shimla Agreement ‘including Jammu and Kashmir’.
As part of the saarc review the Indian Foreign Secretary will exchange views on various initiatives suggested by Narendra Modi including saarc satellites,and a saarc regional university. One hopes though that the Foreign Secretary would encourage a broadening of the scope of the proposed discussions to cover as many issues as possible or at least a lay a firmer foundation for the talks to be fruitful at a higher level in the near future,.
Modi had in fact mentioned this possibility in his telephonic conversation with Nawaz Sharif and there was talk on that occcasion of pushing the bilateral agenda into a possible decisive mode. which does indeed augur well for the resumption of a full-fledged dialogue on major issues between the two countries.
In more ways than one the talks might even open the door to a direct meeting between Modi and Nawaz Sharif. Such a meeting would be more in keeping with the Modi style. The Indian Prime Minister has the whole of these past ten months shown that he would rather be his own Foreign Minister indeed given his style he would rather that all the major moves are made by him or at the very least in his presence.
No reflection on Mrs Sushma Swaraj,a senior colleague of Modi’s, even she would confess to a feeling of being left out of the loop whenever Modi has engaged in direct one-on-ones with most top leaders. Hers has in the main been a follow-up routine.
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