KARACHI, Nov 10: An Indian peace activist, Admiral Ramu Ramdas (retd), said here on Sunday that India-Pakistan dialogue was not likely to resume soon as New Delhi was watching who formed the government in Islamabad and whether or not it included those who had maligned India and publicly supported jihad.

This was an indication of the impediment to normalization of relations with Pakistan if the right-wing six-party alliance of religious parties, the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, had anything to do with decision-making in Pakistan.

Admiral Ramdas, who is the President of the Indian Chapter of the Pakistan-India Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIFPD), was speaking on Pakistan-India relations: prospects and problems. The talk was organized by the Pakistan Peace Coalition and the Sindh chapter of the PIFPD. Dr Syed Zaki Hassan presided.

Admiral Ramdas termed the decision to withdraw troops from the borders an important development because if the two armies had continued to be in eyeball-to-eyeball position, it could have resulted in a serious outbreak of conflict.

He emphasized the need for changing the mindset of the governments on either side to change the fortunes of the peoples of the South Asian region.

“No war (between Pakistan and India) does not mean peace, as peace between the two countries has to be holistic,” said Admiral Ramdas.

He said that peace could come by managing differences, and reiterated the proposal for establishing “genuine peace along the Line of Control and declaring nuclear ceasefire.”

He called upon both sides to declare that there would be no crossing of the LOC, which would remove the cause of threat.

He reiterated the Indian proposal for joint patrolling along the LoC, which Pakistan had rejected. His contention was that if this proposal was accepted, it would make the ceasefire enduring.

He also referred to the India-China experience on their section of what he termed LoC where not a single bullet had been fired during the past 16 years.

He said that joint patrolling with Pakistan was offered in view of that experience. It would have broken the ice, he added.

Admiral Ramdas, who met several important people, in what is seen as part of the track-two diplomacy between the two countries, hoped that communication channels between India and Pakistan, which had been severed after New Delhi had discontinued the Samjhota Express, might be resumed soon.

On the resumption of dialogue, he said: “It is a bit pre-mature for India to resume dialogue with Pakistan as we want to see who forms the government here, because there are many who had openly maligned India and had supported jihad.”

He emphasized the need for giving preference to people-to-people contact to remove mistrust, and hoped that dialogue could resume after two or three months when elections in the Indian state of Gujarat and some other states would be held, in December and early next year.

He was of the view that official level talks might continue, but the real and enduring dialogue between the leadership of the two countries could be held in 2004, when a new leadership would be in power in New Delhi.

He supported a questioner that the Kashmir issue should be frozen for a decade or two and in the intervening period the two sides should address other facets of relationship, by giving more importance to trade and people-to-people contact.

He said that it would be a wonderful idea if Kashmiris on both sides of the LoC were allowed to cross over from given points by using special identity cards. He made it clear that there was no military solution to the Kashmir issue and it had to be addressed in totality.

When his attention was drawn to the plight of fishermen of the two countries, he said that he would take up the matter with the Indian authorities. But, at the same time, he emphasized that the problem was there because the two countries had not signed maritime boundary agreement and their differences over the Sir Creek was responsible for that.

He said that the issue was not being addressed due to Kashmir and also because of the prospects of availability of maritime resources in the exclusive economic zone.

Referring to the conflict-ridden relationship between Pakistan and India, Admiral Ramdas said that the event of 9/11 in the United State had serious negative impact as those elements, who wanted tensions to continue, manipulated them by trading allegations.

He described as “stupidity” the US and Western media’s stance to link Muslims and Islam to terrorism after the Sept 11 incident.

He pointed out that extremism was a worldwide phenomenon, and India or the Christian world was not immune to it.

AT KPC: Admiral Ramu Ramdas (retired), the Chairman of the Indian Chapter of Pakistan-India Peoples Forum for Peace and Democracy, will be visiting Karachi Press Club on Monday.

He will address members of the Club in Ibrahim Jalees Memorial Hall at 4pm.