Peace overtures

India and Pakistan need to break away from their stubbornly-held positions on the contentious issues


March 25, 2021

After Pulwama, Balakot and IIOJK lockdown, hostility between Pakistan and India seems to be subsiding — all of sudden. In what may have been an effect of the recent change in White House, signs of rapprochement are beginning to appear after the bilateral tensions had soared to the brink of a serious conflict between the two archrivals in February 2019.

That all started off with the DGMOs of the two countries announcing revival of the 2003 LoC ceasefire agreement, late last month. Things moved further last week at Pakistan’s first Security Dialogue, organised in Islamabad. In his inaugural address on the occasion, Prime Minister Imran Khan expressed his readiness for talks with India, but said Delhi should take the first step. In his address at the forum a day later, Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa made similar remarks, stressing on the need for the two neighbours to ‘bury the past and move forward’. And the deadlock in communication, spanning two and half years, was broken this past Monday, with a Pakistani delegation crossing Wagah border to reach the Indian capital for talks on water-sharing.

And now a felicitation message on Pakistan Day has come from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, reciprocating the peace overtures from Islamabad. The despatch, to Prime Minister Imran, carries Delhi’s desire for “cordial relationship with the people of Pakistan”. The peace message does, however, mention that for a cordial relationship “an environment of trust, devoid of terrorism and hostility, is imperative”. This is what diplomatic experts read as preconditions to any normalisation of ties.

So, shall we say that the start of any formal peace talks depends upon what would constitute an “environment of trust”? Will confidence-building measures in the form of agreements on water-sharing, revival of bilateral cricket, and people to people contact suffice? Or the emphasis again is going to be on the past mantra of “terror havens”? While the history of Indo-Pak dialogue does not offer much hope, that still is the only way forward. But for it to be different this time, the two sides would need to break away from their stubbornly-held positions on the contentious issues. Are they both ready for such a serious shift?

Published in The Express Tribune, March 25th, 2021.

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