Lend meaning to talks

The meeting of Indo-Pak technical working group on cross-LoC Confidence Building Measures now scheduled for July 18 in Islamabad would be significant in many ways. Actually scheduled for July 10, the meeting was postponed, according to Pakistan “on India’s request as Indian head of delegation was to rush to Kabul due to emergency there.” For the blast in its embassy in Kabul that killed 58 people, India officially alleged involvement of Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI, though Islamabad termed such allegations as “baseless”. The two countries, since they launched the composite dialogue process to resolve their ‘bilateral’ issues including Kashmir, have many a time shown restraint over the acts that could have otherwise derailed the ‘peace process’. However, the present strong accusations by India came in a bad taste primarily because Pakistan’s newly elected government has sent positive vibes and shown its readiness to resolve all issues between the two countries. Although India’s embassy in Afghanistan has begun working again, the fissures its accusations against Pakistan have created would take a considerable period of time to fill. Given that there is no dearth of enemies of India in Afghanistan itself, New Delhi’s accusations do not only seem “misplaced”, they have also the potential to sink the boat of peace process in the middle of the river. India’s Ambassador Jayant Prasad was hitting the nail to his head when he said the “embassy was attacked because of projects India is carrying out in Afghanistan.” India has spent $US750 million in aid since 2001 in that country. The heartburn among the Afghanis against India has its traces in the war that the erstwhile USSR’s launched against Kabul.
India need to understand that its accusations have the potential of taking the composite dialogue process – vowed and touted by both countries as irreversible – back to square one.  Secondly, the two countries need to appreciate that the spasmodic approach with which the dialogue process was and is being pursued did not leave much room for optimism.  On July 18 the meeting between the two countries is expected to “concretize decisions regarding bus services, trade and truck services across the LoC announced in May 2008 in Islamabad after the meeting of Foreign Ministers of both the countries.” One would only expect the two countries shrugging off the misgivings and creating a trust level between them. It is only in an atmosphere of trust that the two countries could deliver through the process of dialogue. But it seems the two countries have to walk an extra mile to regain each other’s trust. The trust deficit between the two Asian nuclear powers has done a great damage to them. The IPI pipeline project is pending mainly because of this trust deficit between India and Pakistan. It is this trust deficit that is forcing New Delhi to seek guarantee from Iran of delivering the gas to New Delhi on Islamabad border. It has been for a couple of years now that the LoC is awaiting the prospects of trade through it. The recent blockade threat issued by the fanatic Hindu political parties in Jammu has reinforced the need for opening such a route for trade. One would expect the two countries clearing the decks for this trade. The sooner they do, the better.