Blow hot, blow cold

Till last month, most of us would have thought “Heart of Asia” was a restaurant. But last week, thanks to this dialogue process which was supposed to be focused on Afghanistan, we have seen relations between India and Pakistan taking a turn. It seems we are the best of friends now.

As Sushma Swaraj made a lightning visit to Islamabad, what we saw a visible improvement in relations. A beaming Sartaz Aziz shook hands with Swaraj several times and things couldn’t have gotten better. She even attended a cultural show and the media reported that she and Aziz shared a table at a banquet held on the occasion.

According to one Indian paper, with cool winds blowing from Margalla Hills in the Pakistan capital, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj arrived in Islamabad with some warmth. Swaraj played along and told the media on her arrival that relations between the two countries should improve and move forward.

One hopes that this warmth doesn’t turn to heat in the coming days. So far, all sides are playing along.

This tune is different from what we have been hearing from both New Delhi and Islamabad over the past several months. Only in October, Swaraj had rejected a four-point peace plan for Kashmir proposed by Pakistan. There was much anger then and in months before that.

Nawaz Sharif had announced his proposal at the annual United Nations General Assembly, saying the two nuclear-armed countries should formalise a ceasefire in Kashmir and take steps to demilitarise the divided region.

In reply, India issued a swift rebuttal, accusing Pakistan of claiming to be the primary victim of terrorism while “in truth, it is actually a victim of its own policy of breeding and sponsoring terrorists.” Swaraj said “We don’t need four points, we need just one: Give up terrorism and let us sit down and talk.” One wonders what the change of heart was in New Delhi. We remember the cross border firing incidents and other unfortunate events.

But by the time Swaraj left, India and Pakistan had decided to start a comprehensive bilateral dialogue. Swaraj said that that the foreign secretaries of both countries will work out details on how to take this composite dialogue forward. Will this lead to serious dialogue or will we see yet another derailment any time soon?

It seems efforts to normalise ties between the two countries took a dramatic turn since Prime Ministers Sharif and Modi had a brief chit chat in Paris on November 30. Their informal interaction then led to the previously unannounced talks between National Security Adviser Lt Gen Nasser Khan Janjua and his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval in Bangkok.

Now others are jumping onto the bandwagon. We have the news that Imran Khan met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi and invited him to visit Pakistan.

According to India’s Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup, “both the leaders” welcomed recent developments in bilateral relations, and expressed hope that these would lead to closer cooperative ties between the two countries.  The former Pakistan captain, on whose request the meeting was held, also requested Modi to resume bilateral cricket ties. It is believed this will happen soon.

Only last week, the PTI chairman had expressed shock at the revelation that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had held a secret “deniable” meeting with his Indian counterpart in 2014 on the sidelines of the Saarc Summit in Kathmandu.

This week, Imran criticised the present leadership of both nations and attributed the lack of courage and conviction as the reason why the secret meetings were held. One doesn’t know if he is in support or against such dialogue from such statements.

He also commented “We don’t want to be enemies forever. You have to think about the future. There are mutual cricketing heroes in both our countries. Like Wasim Akram is adored and loved in India, Sachin Tendulkar is a hero in Pakistan.”

All well said and done, we can only wonder at the change of heart in both capitals. The impromptu visit of the PTI chairman also leaves one begging for answers. At the same time, an improvement in relations between the two countries may help both countries economically as well.
So we will look and see how things pan out in the days to come.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 14^th,  2015.

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