Hopes at the Heart of Asia

The flame of hope in terms of peace talks between Pakistan and India is these days more sustained this side of the border than the other. The decision that the Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz to attend the Heart of Asia Conference in Amritsar may in the end prove to be fruitless; which does not mean it should not have been made — indeed quite the converse. Pakistan is demonstrating once again that it is willing to come to the table, to avail any opportunity no matter how slender or unlikely, to advance the cause of peace. The Heart of Asia conference is primarily to discuss the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, with the India-Pakistan dispute not on any formal agenda. The main business will be around improvements in the connectivity between regional states and tackling the many security threats faced by the Afghan government — but bringing key players together in the same place at the same time creates opportunities to meet informally. The meeting comes in the wake of the failure of SAARC, a grouping that foundered on the rocks of the intractability of the Pakistan-India dispute, and HoAC may be the basis on which a SAARC successor is built.

As yet there is no indication from the Indian side that they have the slightest interest in crafting a meeting on the margins, and the ball is in the Indian court. There was agreement at the last ministerial meeting of HoAC that the Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue would be resumed, a decision killed by the Pathankot attack in January this year as well as other subsequent attacks the responsibility for which India placed on the shoulders of Pakistan. There have been repeated and deadly violations by firing over the Line of Control by India and matters spiral downwards. It was India that torpedoed SAARC and Pakistan is not about to do the same to HoAC. The Indian Minister for External Affairs is not going to be attending having delegated a minion, which leads one to wonder just how sincere India is about any part of the peace process. Keep trying Pakistan, you just never know.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 2^nd, 2016.

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