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| Pak's optimism on upcoming talks premature | | |
Both the Pakistani Prime Minister,Yousuf Raza Gilani,and the Foreign Minister,Shah Mehmood Qureshi seem to be highly hopeful of some results emerging from the proposed bilateral talks between Islamabad and Delhi.Gilani has said that he hoped that the upcoming talks would be fruitful in resolving bilateral problems including the Kashmir issue.Qureshi stated that he would get in touch with his Indian counterpart S.M.Krishna to fix the dates for the proposed talks so that all the eight points on the agenda of the stalled composite dialogue were taken up during the proposed parleys.It is not yet clear what has prompted Pakistani Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister in getting optimistic about the success of the proposed talks.The leadership in Islamabad wants one to believe that the proposed talks will resolve all the bilateral problems as if these problems are very minor and of recent origin.If we take into account three main issues that have
strained
the relations between the two neighbours we think of the Kashmir,Siachen and the water issues.While the Kashmir issue is about 63 years old,that of the water dispute is 50 years old and the Siachen conflict dates back to 1983-84 when the two sides got engaged in a very fierce gun battle on the 19000 foot high mountain glacier.During the last 50 years India and Pakistan have had series of negotiations at various levels for settling the Kashmir issue.For the last 20 years the two sides have held discussion on resolving the Siachen conflict and the water issue but everytime there has been a failure.The issues are not as simple as Pakistan wishes one to believe.Had these problems been easy there would have been no difficulty in resolving them.Hence the way Gilani and Qureshi display their optimism over the success of the talks is more of a mystery than a reality.Possibly Islamabad is optimistic that Delhi will ultimately agree to resume the composite
dialogue when Manmohan Singh simply stated in Bhutan,on the sidelines of the SAARC meet,that the two foreign ministers will meet.Presumably Pakistani leadership believes that the silence adopted by the establishment in Islamabad over the verdict of the special Court on Ajmal Kasab's trial case may have motivated Delhi to work for cordial relations with Pakistan. Well Delhi has always been in favour of friendly relations with all its neighbouring countries but its efforts continue to be watered down by the stubborn attitude of Islamabad and Beijing.No doubt Pakistan is yet to take adequate measures for preventiong the soil of Pakistan from being used for exporting terrorism to India,the main demand made by Delhi since the Mumbai mayhem,India is still prepared to hold a sustained and meaningful dialogue with Pakistan.But what creates confusion is the shifting stand of Islamabad on different issues.While Gilani hopes that proposed talks prove
result-oriented his Foreign Minister,Shah Mehmood Qureshi,said the other day that the talks could be limited to the grant of right of self-determination to the people of Kashmir.This way Qureshi is trying to close various options that can come up while discussing the Kashmir issue.Islamabad needs to demonstrate consistency in its stand and flexibility in its approach.If the two sides wish the talks to succeed no side can impose preconditions.Both sides need to go to the venue of the talks with open mind.Delhi has agreed to resume the dialogue despite Islamabad's failure in acting against perpetrators of Mumbai carnage.It has agreed to revive parleys even when its other demand on handling terrorists within Pakistan was not conceded by Islamabad.This way credit be given to Delhi for demonstrating what a big brother is spposed to display.It is now the duty of the younger brother to avoid needling the big brother so that the process of dialogue did not get
choked again.At the sametime Islamabad should not expect settlement of all the bilateral problems in the proposed talks because all these issues are vexed,ticklish which involves the sentiments of over 1.50 billion people.
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