The back-story is beginning to emerge. The ‘informal meeting’ between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the Paris Climate Change Conference is now seen as of rather more substance than mere happenstance. Both sides played it down in order not to raise false hopes, such as those attendant on the meeting between the two in Ufa, and the Bangkok moot was the fruit of discreet work behind the arras.
In this instance, it was India that acceded to Pakistan’s demand that foreign secretaries be included in the talks and crucially that any meeting was not limited to terrorism-related issues. That was the key, and must not be seen as ‘weakness’ on the part of India, more a recognition that from such negotiated positions may flow other consequential elements, and just possibly, a whiff of amity if not peace on the breeze. Pakistan and India have much to gain from each other, but only so long as they are able to see past the hurdles they create for themselves. Therefore, India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s visit to Pakistan deserves a warm welcome and we hope for better times ahead.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 9th, 2015.
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