ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI: A much delayed Spring thaw finally took place in Pak-India relations as Islamabad and New Delhi on Thursday announced resuming the bilateral dialogue that had fallen victim to the bullets of the 2008 Mumbai attack. The two sides unveiled a three-tiered roadmap for talks that will lead to foreign ministers’ parleys in Delhi in July.
A statement titled ‘Agreed Outcome of India-Pakistan Foreign Secretary level talks in Thimphu, February 6, 2011’, which was released simultaneously from Delhi and Islamabad, said: “They (the two foreign secretaries) have agreed to resume dialogue on all issues following the spirit of the Thimphu meeting between the two prime ministers.”
Was it just the Thimphu spirit that brought about the agreement or did international compulsions force the rapprochement? This question will probably keep analysts busy over the next few weeks.
But the players are not interested in providing any answers just as yet. Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir, who has just returned from the talks he held with his Indian counterpart Nirupama Rao, is in no mood to provide any insight: “Let us proceed ahead with hope and confidence. It is a significant breakthrough.”
The agreement came as India agreed to discuss some matters it had been trying to evade, including the Kashmir dispute and the human rights situation in the occupied Valley; Siachen and issues pertaining to peace and security, particularly the strategic restraint regime.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, who was briefed by Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir on the accord for restarting talks, hailed the development as “opening of a new chapter in the relations between the two countries”. He attributed the thaw in ties to his joint efforts with his Indian counterpart, Dr Manmohan Singh.
The two prime ministers had last year in Thimphu made a fresh effort at normalising bilateral ties and had mandated their foreign ministers and foreign secretaries to talk.
In July last year, the two foreign ministers had met in Islamabad. But the two sides failed to overcome debilitating controversies.
That this year will allow New Delhi and Islamabad to give peace a better chance remains to be seen. However, the range of issues the two sides have agreed to discuss provide hope.
The two sides have agreed to discuss counter-terrorism, humanitarian issues, peace and security, Jammu and Kashmir, friendly exchanges, Siachen, economic issues, Wullar Barrage/ Tulbul navigation project and Sir Creek.
The discussions on these topics will take place in quick succession and will be completed in about three months.
Almost all these issues were part of the Composite Dialogue, which began in 2004 and continued till the Mumbai attacks. Therefore, it is apparently only the name of the process that has been dropped; the essence and content remains the same.
The Composite Dialogue title has probably been dropped, observers guess, because of Indian insistence to not revert to the pre-Mumbai attacks dialogue process, which according to them yielded nothing substantive.
The various issues will be discussed at the secretary level, after which the foreign secretaries will meet. That will pave the way for the foreign ministers to get together. Talks on Wullar Barrage/ Tulbul Navigation Project and Sir Creek will take place at the level of additional secretaries or surveyor generals.
Officials on this side of the border are quick to see the dialogue agenda as vindication of their position that all contentious issues needed to be discussed.
The mood at the Foreign Office was upbeat. Spokesman Abdul Basit, talking to Dawn, said: “The upshot is that peace and stability are in our mutual interest and that normal and good neighbourly relations between our two countries can be achieved only and only through dialogue.”
The dates for all these engagements are still to be decided and this may not be easy.
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