ISLAMABAD: India’s renewed focus on terrorism and a stalemate in the dialogue on Siachen and Sir Creek are making it difficult to finalise the dates for a Pakistan-India foreign secretaries’ meeting tentatively scheduled in Islamabad after June 20.
Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao will travel to Islamabad for talks with her counterpart Salman Bashir on peace and security, Jammu and Kashmir and friendly exchanges.
The meeting is to be the last of the ongoing series of engagement under the revived dialogue process, often referred to as full spectrum dialogue, before their foreign ministers meet in July to review progress.
The engagement, which saw senior officers of the two countries discuss a range of contentious issues like counter-terrorism (including progress on Mumbai attack trial), humanitarian issues, Siachen, trade, Wullar Barrage and Tulbul Navigation Project and Sir Creek, had been agreed upon at a Rao-Bashir meeting in Thimphu last February.
However, much of the ‘Thimphu spirit’ -- a phrase coined after a meeting between Indian and Pakistani prime ministers in the Bhutanese capital last year to express the ‘earnest desire’ of both sides for reconciliation -- has faded away as the two countries reach the end of the first cycle of parleys.
Deadlock in segments on Siachen and Sir Creek is being seen by observers as a strong evidence that all is not well in the rapprochement process.
Notwithstanding the snags that have cropped up in the engagement course, diplomats from both sides maintain that they are committed to continuing the talks as per schedule.
Diplomatic sources insist that problems should not be taken as a signal that the process has run aground.
“We are discussing the possible dates for the foreign secretaries’ meeting in Islamabad, but yes there are certain issues on which we are seeking clarifications from the other side (India),” a Pakistani official said.
Meanwhile, Indians have started pressing harder for action on a fresh list of five suspects given to Islamabad, reportedly including an army officer identified as Major Iqbal, and levelling fresh round of allegations of infiltration through the working boundary in Sialkot Sector.
The message the Indian leadership has been trying to push across is that confidence cannot be restored till Islamabad takes credible action against the “real culprits” responsible for the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
Statements from Delhi show that the Indian side once again wants the dialogue process to be focused on the Mumbai incident, which is in contrast to the agreement the two secretaries had reached in Thimphu on discussing all issues -- something that effectively got the dialogue restarted.
Indian effort to keep the talks limited to the Mumbai incident and its unwillingness to discuss other problems had in the past prevented the estranged neighbours from returning to peace talks that were suspended after the Mumbai attacks.
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