India-Pak talks: More than just 'Saarc yatra'?
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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.
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On DawnNews
Comments (37) Closed
Mar 04, 2015 12:58am
So can we say good bye to BLA?
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Mar 04, 2015 01:10am
Dekha jo teer kha kae kameen gha ki taraf
Apnae hi dooston' sae mulaqat ho gai
After-all we are neighbors.We have to sort out, the issues of concerns.
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Mar 04, 2015 01:33am
pakistan after bangladesh and Bhutan so yes purely saarc yatra.
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Mar 04, 2015 02:10am
If India doesn't want to talk, you put pressure on US to nudge India to resume talks, If India talks then it is perceived as weakness.
First decide what you want! :)
From India's perspective we really are not interested in any talks , all we care is Calm at the border, rest all is just Noise!
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Mar 04, 2015 02:14am
"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.”
Does Pakistan prvide trade routes to cenral asian routes today? No. Who is UAE's largest trade partner today? India. Who is one of the top 3 importers of Iran's oil? India.
Pakistan does not have a veto on India's economic progress.
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Mar 04, 2015 02:51am
@Ali (CA) Not until you give them fair share of their resources , address and resolve human rights issue and provide them jobs and start social welfare measures.
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Mar 04, 2015 02:51am
This is nothing but mere white wash. Nothing substantial will come out. This fruitless exercise has been going on for last 65 plus years. With this attitude million more meetings will yield he same result that "no outcome". At best this exercise can be described as fillers until the next crisis.
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Mar 04, 2015 03:05am
India wants to cool down Pakistan beacuse of its UNSC seat campaign.
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Mar 04, 2015 03:05am
@ALI(CA) You can say goodbye to BLA the day you give rights to the people of Baluchistan. Others can only exploit us when we create an environment which is ripe for exploitation.
Those who refuse to learn from history are condemned to repeat it. If this doesn't make sense, please search online "1971 War in East Pakistan".
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Mar 04, 2015 04:35am
Looking at the picture! Why do we need to have such a luxurious setting? Can't we have simple walls and simple seating arrangements? What an unnecessary waste of money.
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Mar 04, 2015 04:55am
@Ali (CA)
You are talking future - India is talking Mumbai..
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Mar 04, 2015 05:43am
It seems that the ties between both countries will improve and there may be settlement of Kashmir issue after all. Modi's aggressive development plan for India requires peace with Pakistan and also Pakistan needs peace with India to move forward with its own economic development - If this happens, it will be great for the future of over 1.5 billion people
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Mar 04, 2015 05:48am
It is at the max exchange of grievances. Nothing more nothing less. For has it not been the same for decades?
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Mar 04, 2015 05:50am
Indian will never trust Pakistan and should never trust Pakistan-- after the Kargil episode.
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Mar 04, 2015 05:55am
this visit is nothing but a semblance of restoring normalcy as such talks are doomed to fail due to either side's Kashmir rhetoric.I hope after two centuries these two countries would again become united only then Kashmir issue would be solved.
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Mar 04, 2015 06:41am
There is lot of mistrust among both parties. Both still have different view points.
It will take more than few visits before both realize why they drifted away and both did not progress as others did. Sense will come at the cost of more bloodshed
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Mar 04, 2015 07:04am
Reporting on visit is based purely on speculations. Pakistan is inclined to believe that it is because of pressure from third party but they do not believe that India right now will not heed any pressure from any party.
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Mar 04, 2015 07:06am
Have we promised to leave kashmir to them??
Thats where our progress will start
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Mar 04, 2015 07:06am
I feel that mere labeling of the Indian foreign secretary 's visit to Pakistan on Sarc-related matters is not appropriate.It is rightly interpreted by the former foreign minister of Pakistan and a retired general of the army that there must have been outside pressure on India to start dialogue with Pakistan on all mutual problems.Any inter action between two countries should be viewed as auguring a search for fresh start of a peaceful future.
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Mar 04, 2015 07:08am
there is 2 power center in pakistan, to prosper you have to dismantle one.
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Mar 04, 2015 07:33am
Pakistan is a mideastern Islamic State (IS). How can one visit as Hindu Yatra? Pakistan needs to reject label of South Asian country. As it is some part of Asia ie. Indonesia is south of equator, so even India is not South Asian country.
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Mar 04, 2015 08:09am
Mr Gohar can please himself with the thought of Pakistan's importance for India needing central Asian gas or trade routes. Chinese who pay under the table to Pak politicians need you more but are extra ordinarily worried about the internal law & order situation for the safety of their investments.It is Pak who is in need and not India but the attitude of oneupmanship in people ,who matter in Pak, borne out of hate towords India ,despite repeated failures is the tonic of the day for their survival wheather in civil or in army.
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Mar 04, 2015 08:11am
@Ali (CA) Obviously not
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Mar 04, 2015 08:43am
India needs passage to Central Asian countries via Pakistan. It will help India compete China in a larger region but at what price? India also needs a peaceful Pakistan to ensure smooth energy supply from Caspian sea in Turkmnistan, Central Asia.
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Mar 04, 2015 09:00am
@Ali (CA) Not until pakistan gives them fair share of their resources, stop and opologise for blatant human rights violations and give them full freedom and create more jobs and bring in economic and social revival.
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Mar 04, 2015 09:55am
Indian FS never had a chance to sit on sofa like this hence he is exploring comfort.
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Mar 04, 2015 10:37am
I don't agree with all relative comments from analyses and commentators of Dawn.com, my version is now Army chief is serious for solution of terrorism which seemed to me impossible, it is a fear to US & India is third option, may be expected by heavy weight institute Pak. Armed Forces, keeper's of nuclear weapons, they know, can't win with conventional war methods already tried three times. Third option using no doubt, is a threat, there are some headless elements for its use may be on limited scale, if some one has history knowledge of 2nd world war, Japan's Naga Saki and Hiroshima was full fledged, after using it first in Europe on limited scale. USA does not like it as world power to maintain peace, its utmost try to stop border clashes between warring nuclear countries.China played no part by now to stop this kind of situation.
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Mar 04, 2015 10:47am
I don't understand why India needs Pakistan to get to central Asia? It can go there through Iran.
Also India's focus is East Asia not central Asia. So these so called experts should read and study India instead of commenting without understanding thee reality of India. India's only interest and that for matter the whole world's concern is terrorism emanating from Pakistan.
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Mar 04, 2015 11:11am
Now talks have started.When does next Mumbai carnage, Kargil takes place.
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Mar 04, 2015 11:27am
@salim alvi : NO, people like you can never be part of SouthEast Asia - even if -
1. You enjoy local music n Bollywood movies
2. relate to SE Asian food, fruits, surroundings, rivers, rains etc
3. >95% of your countrymen have SEAsian DNA
which your Arab bro have no clue of.
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Mar 04, 2015 11:29am
@zak Empathizing with Baluchs!! - good to see you make 'humanist' remark than 'religion oriented'
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Mar 04, 2015 11:42am
I have not seen dignitaries sitting in different kind of seating arrangement..!!
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Mar 04, 2015 01:17pm
Having fought three major wars of region, we haven't covered any distance to realize that there are no eternal friends or foes. Subjectivity of situation, and economic centrism has been missing in Foreign policy of both country since long, partition. This becomes even more taxing when this official tussle hinders cultural connections, and tries to propagate that their are dissimilarities across the borders.
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Mar 04, 2015 01:46pm
“India needs good ties with Pakistan if it wants to expand economically and exploit central Asian trade routes.”
He actually meant:
“Pakistan needs good ties with INDIA if it wants to survive economically and exploit its own resources rather than investing in Terrorism.”
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Mar 04, 2015 02:27pm
India know it very well that there is no fruitfulness in talks with Pakistan as they are not serious to resolve any issues. Secondly Pakistan does not even want to change its stance of Kashmir despite they have agreed in Simala and Lahore that this would be resolved between only bilateral way.
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Mar 04, 2015 03:50pm
SAARC is just a cover by India to hide its humiliation after blowing hot air over its stance of no talks with Pakistan. India has clearly panicked after Kerry showed them the evidence of their involvement in terrorist activities all over Pakistan and this is really their (India) last chance to come clean and the sort the mess, otherwise sever repercussions are there just around the corner.
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Mar 04, 2015 03:55pm
@Arif Aslam Khan As if the world wants to listen to your countries protests. First make your country relevant by demonstrating peaceful intentions by curbing militants and not poking you nose in affairs of neighbouring countries.
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