AFTER weeks of relative inactivity, at least on the public front, the Pakistan-India relationship appears to be inching forward. The registration of an FIR in Pakistan appears to have paved the way for a series of next steps.

The first of those steps is likely to be a trip by Pakistani investigators to India to gather evidence on the basis of which collaborators and architects of the Pathankot air base attack may be formally charged.

Also read: Pakistan's FIR on Pathankot attack is not enough, says Indian defence minister

Thereafter, though the sequence of steps has not yet been publicly revealed, or perhaps even decided, there will be several major opportunities for bilateral dialogue in March: first, between the foreign secretaries at a Saarc conference in Nepal mid-March; next, between foreign adviser Sartaj Aziz and Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj at a ministerial gathering to conclude the Saarc conference in Nepal; and finally between prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Narendra Modi at a nuclear summit in Washington, D.C. that both leaders are scheduled to attend.

As the flurry of high-level diplomacy late last year demonstrated, bilateral dialogue can quickly and meaningfully be restarted if the political will exists and dialogue is backed by the relevant institutions on both sides of the border.

The Pathankot attack is an early and serious test of the intentions of both the Pakistani and Indian establishments.

Thus far, Pakistani officials have for the most part said the right things and demonstrated a refreshing candidness about the role that Pakistani organisations and citizens may have had in planning and executing the attack in Pathankot.

While not officially confirmed as yet, there has been no attempt here to downplay the Jaish-e-Mohammed role that India has alleged in the Pathankot attack.

Perhaps then India should heed the suggestion of Pakistani officials such as Sartaj Aziz that the resumption of dialogue and the Pathankot investigation can proceed simultaneously.

For reasons of both security and prosperity, the governments of India and Pakistan owe it to their publics to restart and sustain a bilateral dialogue.

Published in Dawn, February 23rd, 2016