Khar-Krishna Talks and Kashmir MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

Low expectations were attached with his visit due to the insignificant outcomes of talks between the foreign ministries throughout the year. Krishna’s recent visit had been more about trade again rather than the promotion of people to people contacts. Liberalised visa regime, signed between India and Pakistan, will encourage societal linkages between Pakistan and India by liberalising visas and extending travel facilities.

A volatile relation between the strategically significant Pakistan and the economically empowered India has been witnessed since 1947. These nuclear powers are the key actors for the maintenance of regional balance of power in the South Asian region. On the other hand, people once striving against British atrocities are now struggling to foster contacts with each other across the borders. Starting from the immature bouts of boundary demarcation to the three wars fought between the two states, Pak-India ties have been marked with bitter rivalry. There are different schools of thought that look at the strained diplomatic cleavage via different kaleidoscopes. The rightist lens in Pakistan requires an immediate solution of the Kashmir issue, which is also a condition, according to it, for the resumption of bilateral cooperation. The rightist lens of India doesn’t want to call back the Indian forces from Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Security concerns have haunted both India and Pakistan for more than half a decade now, which has compelled them to swell their defence budgets. Pakistan’s foreign policy has incessantly been influenced by the security concerns against India. There isn’t a consistent political will at both sides of the borders to mend a ‘regionally important’ and ‘globally glared’ relation. Efforts to normalise and change the unpleasant atmosphere between both the countries have been few and far between. Hot and cold diplomacy along with intermittent breakdown, sum up the history of these geographically close, but ‘politically apart’ nations.

normalise and change the unpleasant atmosphere between both the countries have been few and far between. Hot and cold diplomacy along with intermittent breakdown, sum up the history of these geographically close, but ‘politically apart’ nations.

A cursory glance at the diplomatic faux pas exercised by the Indo-Pak express portrays that the dictatorial regime of Gen. Pervaiz Musharraf introduced a new approach to refurbish relations with the neighbour. The innovative and flexible approach towards India-Pakistan relations was adopted by President Gen. Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee of India when they met in Islamabad on January 6, 2004 on the sidelines of the SAARC Summit to discuss bilateral relations. The meeting was considered a breakthrough as both the countries gave a coherent message for the resumption of dialogue on all the issues including ‘Kashmir’. Pakistan promised to curb terrorist activities. However, this was done at the expense of the UN resolutions on Kashmir. The incumbent President Musharraf was stigmatised at home, but lauded abroad for moving away from the UN resolutions. After Dr. Manhoman Singh took charge of the office, a Composite dialogue was initiated between India and Pakistan in 2004, which lasted for four years (till 2008).

 India-Pakistan relations improved during these four years. There was a significant improvement in interaction between the societies and people of both countries and the dialogue engendered the hope that they would ultimately move in the direction of resolving the problems. The two countries made noteworthy progress evolving mutually-acceptable solutions of two problems: the Siachen Glacier and the Sir Creek boundary. They also made an earnest effort to evolve a phased solution of the Kashmir problem that incorporated the Indian position that the borders cannot be changed and the Pakistani perspective that the Line of Control cannot be turned into an international border. This important progress on Kashmir remained inconclusive. The ‘diplomatic cart’ started to move at a smooth but dead slow pace till there came a date which history recalls as ‘India’s 9/11’- Mumbai terror attacks! Within days of the terrorist attack in Mumbai on November 26, 2008, the government of India suspended the dialogue process with Pakistan. The Indian perspective maintained that the attack was launched by the Pakistan based Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) and its counterpart Jamaatud Dawa (JD) with full sponsorship of Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI). The day Mumbai experienced the terrorist attacks, Pakistan’s foreign minister was in New Delhi (No vember 25-28, 2008) for wide-ranging talks with India’s foreign minister. The Interior/Home secretaries of two countries  had met in Islamabad on November 25-26, 2008 and they had agreed to work together for, among other things, countering terrorism. India suspended the dialogue process after the Mumbai terrorist attack.

Talks were resumed during the 16th SAARC Summit held at Thimphu (Bhutan) in April 2010 where the prime ministers of India and Pakistan met on the sidelines of the Summit on April 29, 2010 and agreed to revive the dialogue ‘without any preconditions.’ It took India almost nine months after the Thimphu meeting of the two prime ministers to come to the decision to resume talks with Pakistan on all issues including terrorism rather than insisting on its earlier position of resolving the terrorism-related issues first before anything else. This set the stage for the resumption of the dialogue towards the end of March 2011. In addition to this, with the democratic transition in Pakistan it wasn’t easy to manage and convince internal political forces to resume talks with India. The political parties in Pakistan have long been gaining public attention by fanning the flames of anti-India feelings. The Indian demand of taking the custody of Hafiz Saeed and the US ‘ India junction also perturbed Pakistan.

 Despite these factors, a new effort to revive the dialogue process had been initiated by India and Pakistan in 2011. Official talks were restored between the foreign ministries on February 26, 2011 after the deadlock created due to the Mumbai attacks. No tangible solutions were decided pertinent to the outstanding issues between both the states. The only area which yielded an outcome was ‘economic cooperation’. India was granted MFN status by Pakistan. Pakistan moved from a positive to a negative list of goods to be traded with India, which includes 90 items that have to be removed by the end of 2012. Both countries allowed cross-border banking. Pakistani investment was welcomed in India.

The recent abbreviated visit of S.M. Krishna to Pakistan was a continuation of the trade liberalisation being achieved by both the countries. Low expectations were attached with his visit due to the insignificant outcomes of talks between the foreign ministries throughout the year. Krishna’s recent visit had been more about trade again rather than the promotion of people to people contacts. Liberalised visa regime, signed between India and Pakistan, will encourage societal linkages between Pakistan and India by liberalising visas and extending travel facilities.

Both the countries are two opposite economies, in terms of size and growth. Economic cooperation and political issues are indispensable for a better Indo-Pak companionship. SAARC is a neglected chapter by both the nations. For Pakistan it is necessary to understand that friendly exchanges without the resolution of outstanding issues will be less effective. Besides that, there is a need to look towards other trading partners like Sri Lanka and Malaysia.