NEW DELHI, Jan 29: Chances of a meeting between senior Indian and Pakistani officials in Munich at the weekend have brightened after US Secretary of State Colin Powell expressed serious concern at the simmering tensions between the two neighbours, diplomatic sources said on Tuesday.
There were Indian media reports too on Tuesday that Indian National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra and Pakistan Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar could meet in Munich on the margins of an international security conference starting there on Friday.
The likely meeting, to be sure, would be between friends, according to diplomats who said both had maintained cordial relations since the Agra summit and the more recent since Saarc summit in Kathmandu.
The diplomats pointed out that comments by Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on Monday appeared to have pointed to some sort of diplomatic drive to resolve a range of issues between India and Pakistan.
Although most news reports in Indian dailies and key news channels had played up partial comments by Vajpayee with regard to a third of Kashmir being part of India, he had actually said that this is what he would want to discuss with Pakistan and not set the return as condition for future talks.
“The media may have a different understanding, but Mr Vajpayee’s comments about not contemplating war as a solution needs to be seen in the context of diplomacy as the way forward,” one diplomat told Dawn.
The United States has expressed concern over the tension between India and Pakistan, which continues to “bubble”, and said it was “actively involved” with both the countries to find a solution to the crisis.
“It is continuing to bubble, if not quite boil at the moment,” Powell told an interviewer on public television.
But, “Powell said, “I will not be comfortable until we have found a solution and we can start going down the escalation ladder, rather than just staying where we are on the escalation ladder. And I certainly don’t want to see us go up any higher on that ladder.”
Analysts said the multi-lateral conference on security policy at Munich would be watched closely for possible Indo-Pakistan interaction on its sidelines.
Pakistan has been invited to the prestigious annual event for the first time along with Australia and Singapore. Earlier, the guest list from Asia was restricted to India, Japan and China.
Mishra was due to leave on Tuesday night on a week-long visit to France and United Kingdom apart from attending the Munich conference.
His first port of call will be Paris where he will co-chair the Indo-French Strategic Dialogue with his French counterpart, the French President’s Special envoy, Gerard Errerra. He is also expected to call on President Jacques Chirac during his 3-day Paris engagement. The National Security Adviser will be in London for a day before returning home on Feb 5, the Hindustan Times said.
Significantly, the thrust areas of this year’s Munich conference will centre round international terrorism and its global impact, besides Central Asia and several other international security issues.
While the Hindustan Times said a “chance meeting could not be ruled out” between the Indian and Pakistani officials, diplomats said it would be a surprise if the two did not meet.
They said the discussions could centre on a host of issues including a list of 20 alleged criminals and terrorists that India wanted Pakistan to repatriate.
The two could also exchange views on the concrete impact on India of the Jan 12 address by President Pervez Musharraf.
The killing by the Indian police of two alleged Pakistani terrorists, who were apparently involved in the attack on the Kolkata-based American Center, has assumed a worrying feature with disclosures that both men belonged to the Lashkar-i-Taiba, a group banned by Gen Musharraf to placate Indian worries.
Powell had warned during his trip to New Delhi earlier this month that there were “people out there” who could want to trigger a conflagration between India and Pakistan.
Meanwhile, Indian External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh has flown to London ostensibly to attend a meeting of the Ad hoc Commonwealth Committee on terrorism during which special focus would be made on effective implementation of UN General Assembly resolution 1373.
Indian officials say that Singh could press for a greater exertion by Pakistan, a suspended member of the group, to do more to address Indian concerns regarding terrorism. It is not clear if Sattar would be in London at the same time.
Indian officials said Pakistan would expose itself to the possibility of diplomatic sanctions if it did not comply with the resolution 1373.
The resolution adopted on Sept 28 last year soon after the terror strikes in the US, had warned countries of actively or passively supporting the scourge.
The committee was formed after the Sept 11 events. On Oct 25, the Commonwealth issued a statement condemning terrorism. The Commonwealth secretariat consulted key members of the Commonwealth and decided to have a ministerial-level meeting.