Secretary-level dialogue: India sees little hope for breakthrough

Strain of pessimism put down to lack of progress in handling anti-terror initiatives.


Zahid Gishkori/Aditi Phadnis March 28, 2011

NEW DEHLI/ ISLAMABAD:


India on Sunday poured cold water on expectations of a breakthrough at the home secretary-level talks between Islamabad and New Delhi starting today, even as Pakistan vowed that it would approach the negotiations with an open mind and expected a “reciprocal response” from its neighbour.


The scheduled negotiations have since been overshadowed by possible summit level talks on Wednesday after or when Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh watch the World Cup semifinal between their two sides at Mohali.

The Indian side did not sound optimistic at all. An official who spoke to The Express Tribune attributed New Delhi’s lukewarm response towards the talks to Pakistan’s alleged “lack of sincerity in cooperating with India in any anti-terror initiatives”. The official claimed that the prosecution’s attempt to bring the 26/11 guilty to justice in Pakistan “had not moved an inch” and that India’s request for providing the voice samples of the attackers’ handlers “had fallen on deaf ears”.

Interior Secretary Qamar Zaman Chaudhry, who is heading Pakistan’s delegation, told reporters at the Wagah border that terrorism, drug smuggling, visa policies and other important issues would be discussed at the talks.

“We have not chalked out any specific agenda for two-day talks. We are going with an open mind and expect a positive response from the Indian side. We hope that these talks will pave the way for the resolution of out standing issues,” he said.

Nine months ago, Indian officials said, Interior Minister Rehman Malik had promised his Indian counterpart P Chidambaram that action would be taken against the 26/11 perpetrators and that voice samples of handlers of the attackers would be shared.

“But nothing happened. So how can we expect this meeting to bring about a major breakthrough?” asked the official.

Other Indian officials pointed out that Islamabad had arrested only second or third-level conspirators and not any of the key figures allegedly linked to the Mumbai attacks.

Indian investigators claim to have transcripts of the recorded conversations between the terrorists at each of the attack sites and their handlers based in Pakistan.

New Delhi had also conveyed to Islamabad that it wants to send a commission to Pakistan to question jailed Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) leaders including Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi. Officials claim that Islamabad has not responded to this request nor has it confirmed whether it would send a similar commission to New Delhi to question the investigating officer of the 26/11 probe and the judge of the trial court.

Even though expectations were low an inadvertent delay of Pakistan’s interior secretary’s flight to Delhi put some cheer into the dreary prospects, because Chaudhry utilised the time to pay a visit to the Golden Temple in Amritsar.

Chaudhry, who will meet his Indian counterpart G K Pillai over the course of two days, was to fly to Delhi but his flight from Amritsar to the capital was delayed. “It was a very unexpected opportunity we got because of the delay of the flight and that was something... ‘jo hum kehte bulawa aaya tha...’ (what we say a divine call),” he said on reaching Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi.

“I prayed for better ties,” said Chaudhry, who wore a blue headgear while visiting the 16th century temple. He was accompanied by other Pakistani delegation members.

Analysts don’t expect any immediate breakthrough during the talks but say that the resumption of dialogue itself was a positive sign. They believe that Pakistan will strongly push forward its case on alleged Indian involvement in arming insurgents in Balochistan and its bordering areas, Samjohta Express bombing and other issues of its concern.

According to interior ministry officials, Islamabad will also convey its apprehensions to India over the new Intifada in Indian Kashmir and the insurgency near Pakistan-Afghan border.

The visiting delegation will also raise the issue of construction of small dams in Indian Kashmir.  Both the neighbours have also agreed to take up all contentious issues and prepare a roadmap in the short meetings accordingly. “It’s very difficult to solve all the issues in two-day meetings, yes, but we will make sure that these issues should not bog down the promising peace process,” a senior official said.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 28th, 2011.

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