• Home
• /
• Opinion

Do India, Pakistan get larger picture for peace?

This clash of perpectives and priorities will take Islamabad and New Delhi nowhere down the diplomatic road.

Will they, won't they talk? It will be a pity if India and Pakistan delegations do not sit across the table after coming so close after a year of open animosity. Again, they have been bogged down by the burning issue of Kashmir and have taken their eyes off the larger goals for peace in the Sub-continent. They will have only themselves to blame if National Security Advisers of both countries do not meet as planned over the weekend.
Tensions are high after firing across the border in Kashmir, so is the rhetoric. Conditions may not be ideal for a full blown discussion, but it's hard to understand why both sides continue to provoke (or react) to each other's actions or statements. The Pakistani team's plan to meet Kashmiri separatists in New Delhi has irked the Indian establishment, which has conveyed its displeasure to its neighbour. We wonder why New Delhi did not spell out its reservations to the Pakistani side when they met last month on the sidelines of the Brics summit in Ufa, Russia. The two delegations led by their respective prime ministers were gung about breaking the ice then, and no conditions or demands were put forth by either of them.
So New Delhi dithers and delays a day before talks, while Islamabad insists on talking to the separatists. It's the same script all over again. And both sides, by sticking to their convoluted positions, appear intent on sabotaging what could have led to a meaningful dialogue. Even the agenda is unclear, say Indian officials. Pakistan's foreign ministry issued a statement saying that India's ambassador to Islamabad has been informed that it would not be possible for Sartaj Aziz to follow the "advice" of the Indian government about not meeting the Kashmiri leaders.
Pakistan says its leadership has always held discussions with the Kashmir/Hurriyat leadership, during their visits to India. Islamabad sees no reason to depart from this established past practice as it views the Hurriyat leaders true representatives of the Kashmiri people.
India says the talks should focus on terrorism because its sees Daesh at its doorstep, via Afghanistan and Pakistan, while Islamabad proposes a comprehensive agenda which includes all outstanding issues between the two countries, including Kashmir.
New Delhi is placing conditions at the last minute, alleges Islamabad. Separatist leaders in Kashmir, who won't let an opportunity go by, are adding to the confusion by saying the Indian government must get its priorities right. New Delhi's stated hard line on terrorism is clear but the lack of focus on both sides is damaging the prospects for a fresh start as envisaged in Russia. This clash of perpectives and priorities will take Islamabad and New Delhi nowhere down the diplomatic road. Negotiations are the only way out of the stalemate of their own making. The two neighbours should first talk to each other while keeping out forces inimical to both their interests from stealing the agenda for peace in the region.