Slowly forward

Nothing especially dramatic has come of the secretary-level talks in New Delhi between the interior secretary of Pakistan and the Indian home secretary, who have concluded two days of dialogue in keeping with an agreement reached at Thimpu earlier this year to resume the process. But Qamar Zaman Chaudhry and GK Pillai have been able to take a few steps along the road to progress and reach some encouraging agreements which could mark an initial move towards a faster route leading to the settlement of mutual matters in the future. Significantly, according to a joint statement issued as they concluded, the talks were held in a cordial environment. The wider excitement stemming from the meeting between the prime ministers at Mohali could well be a factor in this, with a distinct warming up of relations in evidence.

As could be expected, the thrust of the talks centred around the issue of terrorism — the reason behind the breakdown in relations between the two countries after the events in Mumbai in November 2008. The agreement to set up a hotline between the interior secretaries, to enable information about a potential terrorist threat to be quickly exchanged, is important because it could help avoid just such a catastrophe for the future. The agreement to work against terrorism may be rhetorical, but still symbolically significant, while the agreement by Pakistan, in principal, to allow a commission from India to visit in connection with the investigations into the Mumbai attacks, provided there is a readiness to respond with reciprocity, goes towards meeting a long-standing Indian demand. The provision of information on the Samjhota Express blast investigations seems to be intended to demonstrate goodwill.

Cooperation to combat narcotics, the release of prisoners, inadvertent border crossings and other issues such as human trafficking were all discussed. The talks may then have set no new records, or brought any especially flamboyant displays, but they proceeded like a carefully planned innings — which starts out slowly, but could, in time, result in a century being notched up on the score-sheet by the end of the game.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 31^st, 2011.