Terrorism expected to dominate FM talks

India is expected to press for concrete action by Pak against the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks in the upcoming talks.

ISLAMABAD: India is expected to press for concrete action by Pakistan against the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks in the upcoming talks between its External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

The two officials are scheduled to meet in Islamabad on Thursday, in the first formal foreign minister level meeting between the two countries since the Mumbai attacks.

A spokesperson for the Pakistani foreign ministry cautioned against expecting too much from the talks, given India’s preference for focusing on terror.

India’s preferred focus was made clear by Indian officials in their meetings with a group of Pakistani journalists in New Delhi earlier this month. Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao called  the Mumbai attacks “the core issue “ and said India would move forward in improving relations with Pakistan once it is convinced that credible action is being taken against those behind the attacks.

External Affairs Minister S M Krishna said: “We are politicians and we can not go against our public opinion. Our public opinion has drastically changed since the Mumbai attacks. Our people will only allow us to make progress in normalising relations with Pakistan when they see Pakistan taking action against the terrorist network responsible for the Mumbai attacks”.

While Rao dismissed allegations of Indian involvement in the Balochistan insurgency and said, “we have not been given any evidence by Pakistan on alleged Indian involvement in Balochistan”, Krishna said it was in India’s national interest to make sure the region was peaceful.

Indian officials at the meetings seemed to be dissatisfied by Pakistan’s investigations into the Mumbai attacks.

A senior government official revealed that India had shared the names of seven more people with evidence of their involvement in the attacks, and was waiting for Pakistan to take action. India’s main concerns revolved around two militant groups: Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen.

The official said a sudden increase in infiltration across the LoC had coincided with Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram’s June visit to Pakistan. The official said Indian security forces had at the time killed 27 alleged militants attempting to enter India “who belonged to the Lashkar-e-Taiba and were all Pakistani nationals”.

Government officials maintain that Islamabad will try to allay Indian concerns about terrorism and is likely to stick to the stance that the courts alone can decide the fate of those arrested in connection with the Mumbai attacks. Reports also indicate that although PPP politicians want to adopt a softer stance towards India, they are hampered by the tough stances adopted by the Foreign Office and other concerned authorities.

Pakistani journalists in New Delhi also found the Indian foreign office bureaucracy maintaining a harsher stance towards Pakistan compared to the relatively softer line of the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Foreign Minister S M Krishna.

Commenting on the July 15 foreign ministers’ meeting, senior analyst Talat Masood said that Pakistan will also raise issues such as human rights violations in Kashmir, Sir Creek, Siachen glacier and the water dispute in the talks.

He added that Pakistan may also raise concerns about Indian presence in Afghanistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 14^th, 2010.