news details |
|
|
| Stage set for crucial Thursday's Indo-Pak talks | | |
The stage has been set for the foreign secretary level talks,commencing in Delhi on Thursday.The Pakistani delegation,participating in the first ever talks in the last 14 months,is led by the Foreign Secretary,Salman Bashir.In all it will be a six-member delegation from Pakistan.Even before the beginning of the talks the two sides have shown differences over the agenda that has to be discussed during the meeting.While India insists on dicussing the core issue of crossborder terrorism,Pakistan is in favour of debating all the bilateral issues,including the Kashmir dispute.Well India is not afraid in dicussing the Kashmir issue but the Indian Foreign secretary,Nirupma Rao,has made it clear that talks on other issues could be taken up for discussion when the environment had become conducive for such a discussion.This means that the Indian side does not feel that the atmosphere is conducive for discussion on the Kashmir issue and allied
matters.Surprisingly
the Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi,who is on a visit to China,was quick to react to the Indian Foreign Secretary's observation that the Thursdays talks were to remain limited to the core issue of crossborder terrorism when he said that the talks could not be fruitful if the agenda was narrowed down.He wanted all the issues,including Kashmir problem,to be on the agenda for discussion during the foreign secretary level talks.This attitude of Pakistan seems to be nothing short of highhanddness.Even if Pakistan and its agencies have not taken adequate steps to check export of terrorism to India,as desired by India,Delhi had shown its magnanimity by accepting to initiate foreign secretary level talks.In fact India agreed to these talks simply to press for further steps so that the soil of Pakistan was not used to export terrorism to India,especially to Jammu and Kashmir.And Pakistan cannot expect to convert the foreign secretary level talks
into a composite dialogue which had been suspended 14 months ago when the terrorists,coming from Pakistan,struck Mumbai in a big way.It is in the interest of better Indo-Pak relations that Islamabad needs to accept the foreign secretary level talks as a new beginning.If the establishment in Pakistan is keen to build bridges with New Delhi it should heed the sentiments expressed by the Indian President,Pratibha Singh Patil,in her address to the Parliament on Monday.In the address she said India was in favour of a peaceful relations with Pakistan provided Islamabad initiated steps to check exporting terrorism to India.This way Thursday talks can pave way for a better tomorrow provided Islamabad,without being encouraged by Beijing,stopped dictating agenda for the foreign secretary level talks.If Delhi has taken the bold initiative by deciding to reopen the channels of dialogue through the foreign secretary level talks Islamabad needs to respond
favourably.Pakistan or for that matter any country cannot expect all the bilateral issues to be discussed and settled in a day or two of the dialogue.It is pure common sense when one suggests to Pakistan to move step by step.Let the two sides come to some settlement on one issue and then the dialogue could cover other issues.If the Thursday's talks begin under a cloud of uncertanity and mistrust one need not expect miracles out of the parleys.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
