India Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyan Jaishankar’s visit to Pakistan and his subsequent meeting with his counterpart and premier Nawaz Sharif has raised several questions on where bilateral relations between the two hostile countries are headed.
After having called off talks with Pakistan last year, the Indian diplomat’s visit was labeled a “Saarc yatra” by some, a sentiment resonated by Aizaz Chaudhry, Pakistan’s foreign secretary, in a post-meet press conference.
But experts seem to think otherwise. Gohar Ayub, Pakistan’s former foreign minister, while talking to DawnNews, said the Indian diplomat’s visit cannot be seen as a Saarc-related visit only. “Saarc has its own secretariat and avenues,” he said.
He said the recent visit could be the result of “third-party pressure.” “President Obama’s recent visit to India could have forced Narendra Modi to revisit his strategy vis-à-vis talks with Pakistan,” he said. “India needs good ties with Pakistan if it wants to expand economically and exploit central Asian trade routes.”
Maj-Gen (r) Amjad Shoaib, while talking to DawnNews, also played down the “Saarc-only” rhetoric. “The US realises that if India is to play a positive role in Afghanistan following Nato’s withdrawal, relations with Pakistan are a key,” he said. “Obama may have brought home the importance of the situation to Modi, which has resulted in India once again resuming talks with Pakistan,” he said.
But the retired general did not believe Mr. Jaishankar’s visit will give way to a new era of bilateral discussions on issues of concern between the two countries.
LoC violations among other issues discussed
Earlier, the two foreign secretaries said they had discussed all issues of importance between the two countries. Aizaz Chaudhry said in a press conference that issues ranging from recent LoC violations to the Mumbai attack to Indian interference in Balochistan were discussed between the two diplomats.
Pakistan's foreign secretary further said that the overall tone of the talks was positive and that there was a lot to reflect on for both sides. He emphasised the need to root out terrorism, and said both countries had agreed to play their respective roles in eliminating this menace.
