Officials say American intervention raises possibility of resumption of Indo-Pak dialogue. PHOTO: AFP
Away from the media glare and the pageantry of his high-profile visit, US President Barack Obama asked Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to resume the stalled peace process with neighbouring Pakistan during their recent meeting.
A senior official familiar with the development told The Express Tribune on Sunday that Washington has informed through diplomatic channels that Obama “privately encouraged and pushed” Modi to review his approach towards Pakistan.
The US president told Modi that despite ongoing tensions, India must remain engaged with Pakistan. The official, who requested not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue, said Modi was informed that Pakistan had taken ‘serious steps’ in recent months to eradicate terrorism.
Obama particularly referred to the Pakistan government’s efforts to ensure that Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the alleged mastermind of the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, remains incarcerated.
The official said that the US intervention at the highest level raised the possibility of resumption of talks between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. A diplomatic source claimed that the moribund talks might resume in March.
The US State Department also indicated that Washington was ‘consistently’ encouraging both Islamabad and New Delhi for dialogue.
“We consistently encourage dialogue between India and Pakistan. And obviously, the scope and scale of the process there is up to those countries to determine,” State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki told reporters in Washington last week. However, she refused to comment when pressed whether President Obama had raised the issue with the Indian leadership during his New Delhi trip.
The American reluctance to publicly acknowledge its ‘intervention’ is attributed to the fact that India does not want to be seen taking ‘dictation’ from outside due to domestic compulsions.
International relations expert Dr Ishtiaq Ahmed believes the United States, as a global power, can influence India’s policy vis-a-vis Pakistan.
“In fact the deepening relationship between the US and India is not something really bad for Pakistan,” said Ishtiaq, who is a Jinnah Fellow at the Oxford University London.
He added that India’s ‘dependency’ on the United States, be it defence or nuclear areas, means Americans will have more ‘leverage’ over the administration in New Delhi.
The process of negotiations between Islamabad and New Delhi has remained suspended despite a promising start when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif attended the swearing-in ceremony of Indian Prime Minister Modi in May last year.
The two neighbours were set to hold foreign secretary level talks in August last year but the Modi government cancelled the meeting at the last moment as a protest over Pakistan high commissioner’s meeting with Kashmiri separatists.
Prospects of normalisation of ties dimmed because of frequent skirmishes between Pakistani and Indian troops along the Line of Control (LoC) and working boundary. The two countries accused each other of initiating the hostilities.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 2rd, 2015.
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Hi,
I fail to understand what does pakistanis mean when they say - "We want talks as equals". Do they think - India does not treat them as equals and feel inferior to India? Did modi not treat nawaz shariff with dignity when he came to india? Are pakistani diplomats treated badly when they come to india.
Sovereign Equality is the right of every nation this is international law. Sovereign Equality and parity are 2 different things? The problem is people confuse parity with equality? International relations and personal relations dont work like that - Have you ever demanded equality with arabs for instance. they treat people from the sub continent worse than humans.
The fact is pakistan feels very insecure even after 60 years of independence Thier differences with india is ideological & psychological and is based on 2 nation theory.
Only a pragmatic approach with pay results other wise we will keep fighting like school kids.
Nobody tells Modi what to do, he tells them what to do. Like dropping the stupid tracking clause and ignoring pakistan.
How naive could Pakistanis be. They think we take our marching orders (like them) from some Obama sitting in some White House/ Blue House or something like that,. Forgive my arrogance. India was there long before both America and Pakistan were founded. We will be around long after these are gene.
Ha, ha, ha. A good spin by the Pakistani diplomats. (A senior official familiar with the development told The Express Tribune on Sunday that Washington has informed through diplomatic channels that Obama “privately encouraged and pushed” Modi to review his approach towards Pakistan.) The diplomatic channels that had informed Pakistan could have made this public. I will believe it only if this comes from American Side. Anyway, let us say Obama asked Modi to engage with Pakistan privately, which he probably did. Modi would have politely refused to do so unless Pakistan mends its ways. This is meant to assuage the hurt feelings of the Pakistanis who feel betrayed (rightly or wrongly) that Obama did not visit Pakistan. In the world of realpolitik, things like honor, dignitiy have no meaning. Nations do what is in their national interest. It is in USA's national interest to see the rise of India economically, militarily to counter China. It is in India's interest to partner with USA in that endeavor. But, as the saying goes, there is many a slip between the cup and the lip. So, just good intentions do not transform into a strategic partnership. There is a lot of effort that is needed by India and US for this transformation to happen. Meanwhile, Obama's successful visit gives India a leverage with China. China does not want India to go into US orbit. But China has been problematic, doing a proxy war through Pakistan. It remains to be seen what comes out of Modi's visit to China in May. Pakistanis should understand the great game that is being played out. There are no permanent friends and enemies.
First of all, I think it is a good idea for India and Pakistan to talk. However, I don't agree with the inherent assumption here that the ball is in India's court to start this dialogue.
Now, it is well known by now (and I hope the ET mods don't disallow my comment for this), that ET is often used by the establishment to float stories of their liking. If you read this story carefully, you will see that it is attributed to an unnamed Pakistani official.
All it means that somebody in the Pakistani military establishment is trying to salvage some pride from the fact that Obama's India visit pretty much completely ignored Pakistan. Nothing more.
@Maxx.: We are making beelines to get Visa to go to Aus, NZ, EU too. Why is that not noticed by you? Is it because it doesn't suit your line of argument?
There are more opportunities in USA for Indian engineering graduates than in other countries I listed above. So you may find longer lines in front of USA consulates.
It is really amusing to see a Pakistani talk about slavery. You guys have decided to teach Chinese language to your kids in your schools to prepare them to serve Chinese; so much for your rant about slavery in India.
@amartya: "i will never vote for Modi if he initiates talk with Pakistan by Indian side on K-issue ."
Why not? Talks on Kashmir does not mean handing it over. All PMs including Vajpayee had alks.ideally the LOC needs to be recognized as international border. If that can be agreed and it puts an end to jihadis being pushed in it will be a good thing.
Having said that, this news is a hoax. Also Modi will only alk if Pakistan agrees not to talk to Hurriyat and LOC ceasefire violations cease.
Poor reporting...What was Modi's response?...let me guess...the response was mind your business.
This is when you try to make friend with someone who is the world super power and you are a country with more than half of your population below poverty line. India behaving like maniac, self deceptive and a fake tiger of the Asia.
I can not stop laughing when I realised what Pakistani are trying to convey. They are trying to convey that they are so important/ powerful that they forced US to get India agreed to talk..Correct or incorrect but let's agree to that...what next..did you get Kashmir?Its not going to happen.. You can win Kashmir only after killing all Indians and Indian are not Afghani..and they are 7 times more than you...with more money and more power..if you think otherwise let's fight it out.
Authenticity of the news is still unknown and i checked all Indian leading newspapers and nowhere such news in their papers and one more question who was the person gave such information and one to one meeting with Modi and US president who listen their talk so totaly baseless and reporter is mentally bankrupt may you want to prove to your country men that we bend India on talk but in real term we Indian not consider you as an ally or on same as we are now
Pak n India should live like brothers not enemies.
@HelloIndia: What balderdash! Indians go to the US on business, education, to meet family or to improve their economic condition. Many of them, myself included, lived in the US for several years and came back to India without ever applying for immigration.
Indians living in the Middle East go there solely to improve their economic conditions unlike what I listed above for the US. Many Indians in the Middle East are also very successful businessmen who are also investing back home in India. Take a look at M. A. Yousaf Ali whose LuLu Hypermarket chain is all over the Middle East who has set up the largest mall in India.
@Reddy: you are so naive, I mean you Indians are so naive...do you not know things like these do get discussed behind the scenes. And I would be surprised if Obama did not say something on these lines. The reason is simple: Pakistan is fighting the terrorists that have been giving headache to Afghanistan, Pakistan and ISAF. And it has been acknowledged by ALL stakeholders that in last 1 year a significant progress has been made from Pakistan side. So much so that Afghans and ISAF were compelled to start a similar operation on their side of the border. And its accepted by USA that TTP and Baluch Terrorists are being funded and armed by Indians. There is absolutely no question. Americans knew it as far back as 2008. So please come out of your intellectual rat-hole and understand international geopolitics and also a little bit about how intentional diplomacy works.
@ Tani: you did not respond to the question from @Maxx and @MythBuster: Why Indians are dying to go to the USA and for that matter why are millions of them in Middle East. I mean if India is such a great country why Indians are not putting working in their own country. Only one meaning, Indian Diaspora thinks India does not have any future. Please respond to that not say irrelevant things. A hallmark of Indian commentator when it comes to Pakistan.
Interesting. The dictation/intervention part by the U.S has hurt the inflated perception of Obamas visit. Moreover it is correct that nuclear and defence deals will give more leverage to US. Further, India knows that centre of the gravity of Agh- Pak-US strategy after the U.S. Pullout from Afghanistan lies inPakistan Therefore they will not rock the equation beyond certain limits. Moreover China is adroitly playing their cards.
Truth hurts, looking at the comments from Indians, it surely does.
@Maxx.: Millions of Indians are working In the US. So what ? US can never dictate Indian in any manner, the way they dictate with the Pakistan. Millions of Indians are contributing to the US economy, that doesn't means India is under the control of the US.
"official familiar with the developments" mistook hug for a push.
@Maxx even america asked india to lax its visa rules for Americans for free flow of business and trade. H-1b is for business and trade. Indian Americans are the most educated and richest communties in America. "The whole society is based on caste and creed... Talking about slavery emancipation" India has banned both the things since many dacade ago by stringent laws within the constitution. It also provides quota in jobs,education for them. Get yourself updated. Every country has laws. if certain people violate law and do illegal things you can't judge whole country on it. Has western countries been able to curb racism, religious hate in their country? Nope. But it's your "state constitution" that discriminates against Ahmadis. And many communties. Where as most democratic constitution has given all equal rights.
" India PAYS for whatever it gets or will get from the US . The relationship is that India is customer and the US is the supplier . I think we all no that no supplier can dictate to his customer .
that only shows pakistan's ignorance, india won't listen to anybody on the matters of pakistan ...at this moment nobody in india is in the mood for talks,ignoring pakistan always worked in our favor,why would anyone wants to bring sidelined issue to the center stage,and fareed zakharia hates pakistan more than anybody in india....
@indian: Why then Indians are making a beeline to get the H-1B, H-4 visas to get into US. Modi has also raised that issue. BTW just read a report India has the largest slave population in the world-close to 15 million. The whole society is based on caste and creed...talking about slaves and emancipation. Get a reality check.
Saudi Prince allowed to hunt rare bird species in Pakistan. What does it say about about the leadership and dignity of Pakistan. Pakistan is a slave nation to saudis.
Very ambiguous statement. The meaning depends on how you interpret the term 'engage'. If India keeps 'engaging' the way it is doing right now, we're screwed.
i will never vote for Modi if he initiates talk with Pakistan by Indian side on K-issue .
@ABC: Obama is Pakistans daddy. India never a slave of US.
@AVMPolpot: Also recall the ET news on Malik Riaz signing a $48 billion agreement on a real estate development project with a US company !!!!!!
Even if I assume this news to be true, it will be interesting to know if talks really happen. Proof of the pudding will be in the eating.
Fake self made news,source please.
Anyone who knows modi also knows that he cannot be pushed into doing anything..
“We consistently encourage dialogue between India and Pakistan. And obviously, the scope and scale of the process there is up to those countries to determine,”
This statement by State Department effectively snubs pakistan,it means "Bilateral" thus US rejects pakistan as always but this is a old news.I thought this article says Obama/State Department said something new but after reading thisi found the article unilaterally quoted old State Department and linked it to "Obama said" and gave a new title to it.All i can say is this is a self made news and like putting words in Obama mouth when actually he never uttered a word,thus a classic case of twist and fact.Bad journalism
To all my Indian friends: Did you not notice and clear effort by your PM to show that he is so chummy with Obama...repeatedly referred him as "Barrack" while US president kept referring him as Mr. Modi. Just like he will address anyone else in the West or the East. It was a cheap way of getting across this message to the naive Indian public that India matters !!! some inferiority complex. And if friendliness with US was a barometer, then @ABC is 100% correct in calling him daddy, Indians' daddy. USA is the country where ALL Indians will end up if given a chance.
@ABC: pakistan wants and always takes dictation from daddy. It only wants to talk to India if indis took dictation from daddy
Humbug! This is 1971 all over again. When Pakistan knew it was loosing war in Bangladesh it hold propaganda radio news stating that they are winning. And one fine day suddenly the nation woke up to the news that it not only lost the war it lost 1/3rd of it's nation. And to add to the agonizing humiliation was the news that 90000 Pakistani army were taken as prisoners of war. Whole of Pakistan was in shock how this happened when they were told that they were winning. This article should be a scary resemblance to Pakistanis. If this news does not tell you something is evidently wrong here because its premier of Pakistan and not of India who send the love letter in Indian Republic day. And that it is Pakistan running from pillar to post begging world to give it some attention it needs to make India talk to it. And Obama in fact before and during trip reminded Pakistan not to spare any militants attacking the neighbors. With all these open news in global channels, Mr, Kamran Yousaf wants to make a fabricated news quoting "someone who do not want anyone to know who he or she is". World has stopped relying on such resources but I guess Pakistan hasn't learned it even from it's 1971 humiliation.
Another establishment gas balloon! US State department has clearly innunciated its hands off policy vis a vis indopak issues. Unknown sources, annonymous diplomats, etc release information that has no basis in reality. Release of statement a day from pakistan regarding obama visit even a week after his visit, reflects frustration and helplessness. Meanwhile, india china are mending fences and modi is visiting china in may. World has moved on. Pakistan is still stuck with its K record.
It costs nothing to dream on. Dil kay behlaney ko, galib yeh khayal acha hai!
So the talks will take place at the same time that BJP is sharing power in the J&K assembly. Hmm, interesting!
As far as DELUSIONS are concerned ; THIS is a GOOD one to have--- that Obama pushed Modi
@ABC: " So a multi-million suit engraved with own name didnt work and he still got the dictation from the daddy" +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++== Its dictation if Modi follows the alleged advice, otherwise its wasted breath.
How do you tell the news is a hoax and a lie. When you see over dose of sentences like "A senior official familiar with the development" "The official, who requested not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue" ... And especially if the news is coming from Kamran Yousaf.
@ABC: Modi was willing to talk and scheduled secretary level talks. They fell apart because Pakistan insisted on talking to Hurriyat. If Pakistan agrees to talk with India without getting Hurriyat inolved and stop LOC ceasefire violations, India will talk. Without these conditions being met, India will not talk.
Anyway Obama said very clearly that those responsible for 26/11 should be held accountale. Kerry said clearly that Pakistan was not doing enough to deal with Ondia and Afghanistan specific proxies. When they could be so direct about what they wanted Pakistan o do, they would have been equally direct about what they wanted to do. This is simpy a fake story made up with anonymous sources.
In any case, in 2009 Obama had apponted Holbrooke as Kashmir envoy since he wanted to get inolved in resoving the issue. After India made it clear that it would not accept US involvement in Kashmir, Hollbrooke was redesignated. If Manmohan Singh cold stand up to Obama, what are the chances that Modi wold take dictation?
@Raj - USA: " Pakistan is fond of making its own news." ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Remember the stories published in ET the Iranian company that was investing a Billion dollars in the IP or the Saudi company that was investing a Billion dollars in real estate. Only two constants: A Billion Dollars and that they never materialize:).
This is called clutching at straws
@ABC: Only if you believe the above news "STORY"
Stalled negotiations: Obama pushed Modi-to-re-engage-with-pakistan on "Equal Footing" is what is missing in the title ... Orrrr Does that mean that Obama asked India to take ON Pakistan
@ABC:
Daddy, we are not pakistan.
America didn't even utter a word on k or talks when in india. Infact india america talks were about China and trade. Now across border for pleasing local audience are saying unknown source said they have called upon india for resumption of talks. Even the press briefing of USA in America said ofcourse we would encourage them to meet. But the process,scope and scale is up to those countries to decide" this shows america pulled itself back from the picture and left it on india.
@ABC: why are you pakistanis calling obama a daddy?
Pakistan is fond of making its own news. Anyone who thinks that India will hold talks with Pakistan in the near future and that too without Pakistan pledging not to have any talks with separatists is living in fools paradise. India will not have any talks with Pakistan in the year 2015. It suits India to ignore Pakistan and keep guarding the border to prevent infiltration. All those terrorists who are planning to infiltrate to India will be stuck in Pakistan. Those terrorists, unable to move out of Pakistan cannot and will not remain quiet because if they do so, they will become irrelevant and forgotten. So, they will keep up their action within Pakistan and destroy Pakistan itself.
@ABC: ouch!!! that was below the belt.
So a multi-million suit engraved with own name didnt work and he still got the dictation from the daddy
I also encourage Pakistan to engage in talks with... +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Hurriyat.