Meeting of minds in Delhi

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz's visit to New Delhi as part of his tour of Saarc countries was most timely. As the outgoing chairperson of Saarc, his purpose was to extend an invitation to Dr Manmohan Singh for the Saarc summit in Dhaka in January, but the visit had significance for bilateral ties between India and Pakistan.

The outcome of the talks should prove helpful in facilitating the on-going peace process between the two countries. By re-emphasizing Pakistan's commitment to peace by resolving all its disputes with India - including the Kashmir issue - Mr Aziz reassured his counterpart in Delhi that the war clouds in South Asia were now dissolving. But it is not just the absence of war that is the need of the hour. The two sides must enter into active cooperation if they want to promote regional cooperation in South Asia, especially within the Saarc framework, which has so far been hampered by the India-Pakistan deadlock.

The significance of the Pakistan prime minister's visit lies in that some directions have been set for the dialogue. For instance, it is now clearly understood by both sides that for the dialogue to be successful, they will have to negotiate in tandem all the issues of direct concern to them - be it the future of Kashmir, bilateral trade, economic ties, communications or cultural interactions.

It is no longer possible to prioritize one issue and insist on its solution and place the others on the backburner. Accordingly, both governments are now prepared to adopt an approach which shows that they are thinking outside the box. They were discreet in not harping on their rigid traditional stands on Kashmir, leaving it to their deputies to thrash out their differences through quiet diplomacy.

Pakistan and India are now evidently exploring the gas pipeline project from Iran which will be of benefit to both countries. There are indications that they want to step up trade and economic ties and promote closer communications, especially at the people-to-people level.

Of course, the most intractable of all issues is Kashmir and it inevitably makes its presence felt in all areas. Thus, the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service may not have an easy start given the differences between the two sides on what travel documents the passengers should carry.

Pakistan feels that by allowing the Kashmiris from the Valley to travel on an Indian passport would in a way formalize the LoC as an international border. A via media can be found to this without prejudicing the legal positions of both sides.

In fact, an acceptable formula should be found because it is important that meetings between the Kashmiris from both sides should be facilitated. They are the third - but the most important - party in this dispute and no settlement is possible unless it is acceptable to them.

It is therefore encouraging that the Indian government arranged a meeting between Mr Shaukat Aziz and the Kashmiri leaders. This is the first step and one hopes that more such meetings will take place, especially between the Kashmiri leaders from Azad Kashmir and those of the Valley. Thus a consensus can emerge on a just and durable settlement.

Rangers and fishing

The Sindh chief minister's assurance that his government will resume charge of fisheries from the Rangers posted in the coastal areas by the end of the year should come as a relief to the fishing community.

The Rangers, Dr Arbab Rahim said, were given fishing rights through an annually renewable contract back in 1977. But since then no government has tried to cancel the contract even though there have been complaints by the fishermen, alleging harassment by the Rangers and virtual negation of their right to fish in the local waters.

Things came to a head last month when there were reports of clashes between the villagers and the Rangers and of intimidation and oppression of the former by the latter. For their part, the Rangers accused the villagers of having attacked their personnel and forcing them to take off their uniform.

According to the chief minister, the matter was referred to President Musharraf who finally prevailed upon the servicemen to forego the fishing rights awarded to them under the controversial contract.

In the whole unpleasant episode, one fails to understand why, in the first instance, the Rangers were made custodians of fisheries in the coastal areas. The Rangers are there to safeguard the country's borders for which they get salaries and perquisites under services rules.

Their intrusion into commercial activities is bound to create resentment among the people. As for the impoverished fishermen the coastal areas, their only source of income is catching and selling fish.

The decreased flow of the Indus downstream from Kotri over the last many years, the prevailing drought conditions and periodic cyclones hitting Sindh's coastal belt, have all had a debilitating effect on local fishing communities.

Meanwhile, the Rangers' complete control over fishing has forced many fishermen to migrate elsewhere in utter destitution. Those left behind have been subjected to all kinds of undue hardship. The sooner this injustice ends and fishing rights are restored to the local communities, the better.

The Umrah mess

The apology offered by the chairman of Pakistan International Airlines over the mishandling of passenger traffic during this year's Umrah operations is welcome. The logical next step should be to make public the findings of the inquiry committee that the airline had set up to investigate the whole affair.

Also, disciplinary action must be taken against the airline officials found responsible for the mess. The manner in which over 20,000 passengers were left stranded in Saudi Arabia shows that the airline management did not do its homework and miscalculated the rush for seats.

Another aspect of the fiasco was that passengers complained of corruption amongst airline staff in Jeddah where it is alleged that boarding cards were issued only after payment of extra money to PIA ground staff. One hopes that these issues will come out in the inquiry that is being held by the management into the affair.

At the same time, the massive increase in the number of Umrah pilgrims during Ramazan this year also has to be taken into account. Over 58,000 passengers travelled by PIA for Umrah in the holy month this year in comparison to about 28,000 last year.

This is a substantial increase by any standard and it seems the airline was unable to fully cope with the heightened rush. To add to the problem was the insistence of most passengers to fly prior to the 27th of Ramazan and return home before Eid.

In such circumstances, the airline was bound to face problems. It is important to take steps to avert such a situation during PIA's Haj operations which commence soon.

One way to tackle the rise in passengers would be to requisition the services of the country's private airlines in the exercise while another step could be to limit the number of people who can go for Umrah at a given time, as is done in the case of the Haj.