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| Is Indo-Pak dialogue target of Pune blast? | | |
ABID SHAH
NEW DELHI, FEB 14: Details of ordeals of victims both dead and injured and that of their kiths and kin in yesterday’s bomb blast at Pune are all over television though the culprits and their motive may take time to unravel. And, thus, there is a hushed silence among a billion plus spectators who await investigators signal before drawing any conclusion.
Yet it is clear that the timing of the blast is such as to shoo away India and Pakistan before their Foreign Secretaries can sit together and talk to break the jinx besetting their ties through better part of the independent history of the two countries.
Thus, the large constituency cutting across borders that fervently desires for peace feels hurt and threatened by the ghastly blast at Pune since yesterday. Its plight was acknowledged by Foreign Minister SM Krishna while talking to reporters today at Chennai. He was asked about the fate of February 25 talks in New Delhi between India and Pakistan through their Foreign Secretaries.
The Minister warned against jumping to conclusions asking to wait for investigations, indicating that talks could well take place despite the blast. And among other things one of the motives of yesterday’s incident could be to deter India and Pakistan from talks that have been on hold for over 14 months after the Mumbai blast.
Krishna has only been trying to save the hope from fading out completely as has been the fall out after the Mumbai blasts on 26/11 distancing India and Pakistan like after the attack on Parliament during the tenure of the last BJP-led Government.
And as of late Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah have been turning out to be the main drivers in bringing the two neighbouring countries together for a meaningful exchange and possible journey to peace, the Pune explosion is a grave challenge for both.
Chidambaram visited Pune today and briefed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here soon after his return. And as the top Government brass in Delhi are keeping their fingers crossed as the blast at Pune has the potential of blowing of the possibility of a dialogue with Pakistan, the Pakistan Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has come out with a statement against the attack on Pune’s German Bakery where victims included foreigners who are generally the bakers customers.
In any case there are going to be votaries for Indo-Pak talks like Mani Shankar Iyer who earlier said that talks became all the more necessary when the relations were at low ebb as against when the times were normal and incident free. But the question is whether such optimism could withstand when the main Opposition party or the BJP has started trying to shout down the Foreign Secretary level meeting between India and Pakistan. In an article published here today the former Foreign Minister in NDA rule Yashwant Sinha has decried India’s optimism and decision to talk to Pakistan. Besides this both BJP and Left have blamed Government of intelligence failure.
But the fact remains that India and Pakistan had initiated a dialogue process way back in 2004 that Pakistan insists to be resumed and came close to setting out on a better course when several trains in Mumbai were hit with simultaneous blasts on July 11, 2006. This derailed what is known as four-point solution for India and Pakistan over Kashmir among other things. Those were the days when General Paervez Musharraf held the reins of power in Islamabad and the four-point solution was his brainchild.
Now his civilian inheritors of power have been shying from acting decisively since the shadow of Army top brass often lurks before them. And this poses a challenge for Indian foreign policy wizards who have to account for the real seat of power in Pakistan while even inviting, receiving or talking to delegations from Islamabad.
And, thus, participation of representatives from the armies of the two countries along with the diplomats could be a solution. This is more so if one looks at the latest ceasefire violations at the borders in Jammu and Kashmir where rockets were showered from across only the other day.
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