Back on track

We must hope that discussions will resume soon but the reality is that much unpleasantness has been created.

After some days of frenzied tension, following incidents on the Line of Control, signs that normalcy is returning and that dialogue will continue between India and Pakistan are welcome. Activists on both sides of the border have been seeking sanity and these efforts were given a boost by India’s External Affairs Minister, Salman Khurshid. Speaking informally to participants of a Track 2 dialogue in New Delhi, Mr Khurshid said that incidents, including the cancellation of a play, which was to have been staged at India’s National School of Drama by a Pakistani group and the sending home of Pakistani hockey players, were not coordinated by the Indian government, but came as a result of the general environment that had been created. He said that matters had ‘snowballed’ out of control, with the media playing a part in this.

Mr Khurshid’s tone is reassuring. His view that such ‘unpleasant incidents’ happen between nations is true. But the fact is that such sequences of events deliver a blow to peace efforts. It takes time to regain lost ground. Even now, the participation of the Pakistan women’s cricket team in the World Cup to be held in India is being protested, most recently in Orissa and the BJP is demanding that Pakistani writers not attend the Jaipur Literary Festival. As they get back to resuming discussion, both nations need to find a way around this — given the possibility that further incidents could occur in the future. As Mr Khurshid himself stated, the best manner to handle such matters was to ensure that only the foreign ministry spoke on them. This is a protocol both nations need to agree on.

We must hope that the task of resuming discussions will begin soon. But the reality is that much unpleasantness has been created. Hopefully, it will fade away. But the bitter aftertaste could linger for some time. The goodwill demonstrated by Mr Khurshid should be used as the springboard to relaunch the peace process and ways must be found to keep it firmly on track.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 23^rd, 2013.