Stalled dialogue: ‘Pakistan, India talks should go on uninterrupted’

Mani Shankar Aiyar calls upon India and Pakistan to engage in an “uninterrupted and uninterruptable dialogue.”

KARACHI: Indian Member of Parliament (MP) Mani Shankar Aiyar called upon India and Pakistan to engage in an “uninterrupted and uninterruptable dialogue” that carries on, no matter what happens between the two countries.

Aiyar, who worked as the consul general to Pakistan when there was an Indian consulate in Karachi, acknowledged the fact that Pakistan was facing the brunt of terrorist attacks. “No state has suffered from terrorism as much as Pakistan,” he said, adding that the steely will of its people, which was not allowing extremists to take over, was admirable. However, at the same time, he said, “it is important that we go beyond 26/11 by going after those responsible for [the attack].” He hoped that the July 2010 dialogue between Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik and the Indian home minister would bear fruits.

He said the framework for the resolution of the Kashmir issue had reached an advanced stage during Musharraf’s regime, but regretted that the composite dialogue was eventually stalled. “Not talking to each other would only lead India and Pakistan nowhere,” he said.

Aiyar spoke at an event organised by the Karachi Council of Foreign Relations. The topic was “India-Pakistan: Prospective and Retrospective”.

He said the Indian consulate in Karachi had been shut down 17 years ago but that had only created problems for the people of Pakistan who now have to travel long distances to acquire a visa. He questioned the wisdom of not going ahead with the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) oil and gas pipeline when the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline was already in the works.

The MP reminded everyone that only engagement could lead to a solution and stand-offs would continue to hurt both sides.

Aiyar accepted that it was important that the Indian side understood that Pakistan was here to stay and it was not like Afghanistan. “Pakistan is here to stay and it would be best to deal with it in those terms,” he said. He said it was not in India’s interest to see Pakistan disintegrated and dispelled all conspiracy theories. He said the generation that wished for Pakistan to become part of greater India no longer existed on either side of the border. “History itself is taking care of history,” he remarked, adding that the new generation in Pakistan and India can’t comprehend or appreciate the two-nation theory.

Aiyar quoted from Jinnah’s speeches on several occasions during his talk. He said that there was no need for nationalism in Pakistan to be cemented by anti-India sentiment.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 9^th, 2011.