After the complicity of the notorious Pakistani terrorist organization, the Lashkare-Toyyaba in the November 26, 2008 dastardly strike in Mumbai became evident, hurdles and delays in the resumption of Indo-Pak dialogue were but natural. But initiative by Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh during his meetings with Pak President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Geelani once again paved the way for resumption of Indo-Pak dialogue.
First there was a meeting of the foreign secretaries of both the countries and then Indian Foreign Minister S M Krishna paid a visit to Islamabad for talks with the Pak Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureishi. They met, they smiled and shook bands, but the Pak friends, after the ceremonial handshake were seen shaking their heads in there familiar denial mode.
As some had feared and expected, the Pak Foreign Minister Qureishi welcomed his Indian counterpart with great show of warmth but also ensured the main purpose of his visit was defeated. They were back to square one.
So far as Mr S M Krishna is concerned, any allegation of his or New Delhi being under pressure is baseless even though tensions between the two neighbours remained. The one under pressure really was Mr Shah Mehmood Qureishi, from Inter Service Intelligence (ISI). He had paid a secret visit to the ISI office during the Indo-Pak talks. Why did he have to visit the ISI and what happened at the secret agency's office during the visit ?
It was the Pak media itself which below the lid off the secret visit. Can Mr Qureishi deny that ISI is under no circumstances in favour of Indo-Pak relations taking a turn for the better. If that happened their game would be lost.
It must be remembered that India's main condition for bettering Indo-Pak relations is that Pakistan should not allow its territory to be used by terrorists for operations against India. And the main objective of the ISI is to breed and sponsor cross-border terrorism against India. Under such circumstance it is very difficult for Pakistan to come to any terms with India because no Government in Pakistan, whether civil or military, can afford to annoy ISI by going against its wish. In fact Pakistan is caught between a vicious triangle - military, militants and big mouth politicians.
Statement made during his Islamabad tour by S M Krishna also attracted attention. According to him his tour to Islamabad got entangled with the comments made by the Home Secretary G K Pillai. He went to the extent of saying that if he were the Home Secretary he would have said nothing to Pak in the context of Headley disclosures about ISI links with the Mumbai terror strike. He said that talks must resume in order to solve outstanding issues.
One thing has to be borne in mind. If some error was committed from the Indian side, immediate steps were taken to eradicate it. Will Pakistan try to look at its own faults and failures to eradicate trust deficit. Concerns will have to be taken note of and grievances addressed. And that has to be done with honest, clean hands otherwise there will be handshake only, no meeting of the hearts.
- (ADNI) |