The writer is a consulting editor with The Statesman and writes for several newspapers in India
This time around, the Pakistani PM has the mandate to meet his Indian counterpart, with barely any significant opposition to his desire for re-establishing dialogue. The Indian leader does not have the same advantage unfortunately, with elections and a weak-kneed approach to bilateral relations making it difficult for him to move out of the groove as it were, without constantly watching his back. A volatile Line of Control (LoC) and attacks on Indian soldiers have added grist to the mill of those in India who believe that confrontation should replace dialogue, and that dialogue is the option for the weak, instead of realising that peace is always a mission of the strong.
At the moment, there are two pointers in favour of a Singh-Sharif meeting. One is the visible desire of both to meet, with PM Singh also keen to keep the process going. Secondly, the hostile activity along the LoC has subsided and if it stays at this level, the Indian PM will find it far easier to agree to the meeting closer to the dates. It is important for both sides to manage the LoC, the difference being that in India, political will is often sufficient to ensure a peaceful LoC, while in Pakistan, the military has to be on the same side as the political leadership.
In both countries, at different points in time, there are varying degrees of strident opposition to dialogue and peace. Strong governments are able to resist this pressure arising really from political opportunism and ignorance, but unfortunately, for both India and Pakistan, those in power have not always had the courage to resist this opposition.
It is true though that a Singh-Sharif meeting at this stage will not achieve much, particularly as India is going in for general elections and PM Singh will have to keep both eyes fixed on electoral dynamics. However, both governments can take smaller initiatives to move the process forward and thereby ensure that the setback in relations is overcome to some extent. It is imperative for rhetoric and posturing to take a backseat, so that the two governments can open blocked avenues for cooperation.
This is even more important in light of the stabilising role that both countries will be required to play in the region, when US troops withdraw from Afghanistan in 2014. Any increased violence in the region will require peace along the LoC and cooperation between Islamabad and New Delhi at all levels. The scenario of an unstable Afghanistan and two bitter neighbours is frightening, at a time when all South Asians need to join hands to ensure that the region is not rocked by violence. It is imperative for India and Pakistan to understand the challenges that the coming months and years are going to bring for both. Instead of fighting for space and territory, and accusing the other of interference, the talks should seek to establish new levels of cooperation so that suspicions and the lack of trust can be addressed.
One of the planks of the elections in Pakistan was peace with India, a development that no one could have believed even a few years ago. PM Singh, on the other hand, is faced with a belligerent BJP that is determined to stall the talks and he needs a calmer than before LoC and a quiet Pakistan, to be able to gather the courage and the will to talk. This is the primary reason why New Delhi is not even admitting to the possibility of a dialogue at this moment, even though all concerned are keeping fingers crossed in this regard. On the other hand, PM Sharif’s foreign policy adviser has had little hesitation in informing Pakistani reporters that the two could meet in New York on September 29. Clearly, this is a date that both have shortlisted, providing, of course, there is no incident that could stay PM Singh’s hand.
The clock is ticking and September 29 is not so far away. Of course, the meeting must again institutionalise a peace process; otherwise, it will remain little more than a shared cup of lukewarm tea, signifying nothing.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 7th, 2013.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.
COMMENTS (18)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
1730959638-0/trump-(19)1730959638-0-165x106.webp "article")
Either MMS meets MNS or not in New York nothing is going to change or happen because change shall happen when India will change its attitude and show positivity to resolve the issues between Pakistan and India but unfortunately India is showing dishonesty and insincerity in regard of solving the issues and most especially importantly MMS can't do any thing alone on its own because in democratic setup parliament approves of disapproves any acts,amendments and new laws.......
Let's wait till a real PM takes office in Delhi. Why talk to MM Singh who is neither a party leader nor a nationalist a la BJP? If Congress comes back, we'll have to see who is at the helm.
@David Smith @Weirdity
Exactly.
All this talks are meaningless unless and until pakistan abandons the arabic culture, which they have adopted and adapted to whole sale. Everyone knows it, but no one wants to talk about it. I have seen the so called "MODERATES" from pakistan lament, that India could have been united under the flag of islam flying on the red fort in Delhi.
Go figure.
Whats the point in meeting,
1.You promote terrorist activity in India and terror strike like Mumbai. 2.You give protection to people like Dawood Ibrahim (in fact his daughter is married to Miadad son) 3.You hold rallies everyday against India in your capital. 4.You push terrorist in J&K by doing firing on Indian posts. 5.You attack Indian in Afghanistan.
And you want our PM to talk to you as a friendly nation.You can do all this nautanki to fool International community but we know you from hundreds of years.We know you in and out.
The author can do the readers a big, big favour by listing the benefits for both Pakistan and India, that would come out of such a meeting.
"Clock is ticking". :-). Cheap and sensational yellow journalism.
Your last para - "the clock is ticking..." Really? Is there going to be massive kaboom if the two don't meet? Or are we looking at a new dawn if they do? Nawaz Sharif, with all his good intentions still doesn't control foreign and security policies of Pakistan and Manmohan Singh, in spite of his eagerness to leave a "legacy" behind, has his own internal issues to deal with; Pakistan is not a priority. My view, unless something untoward happens, is that they will meet: NS wants it and a snub would be counter-productive. But will there be anything useful from the summit, I doubt it. The South Asian tradition of useless photo-ops will continue.
Poor M M Singh! A Sardarji at the service of a Catholic in a Hindu majority land. Likely result of his meeting with the premier of a Muslim neighbour: tun tun gopal.
Meet, and do what? Exchange the list of casualties on the LOC? Meeting between PMs is futile, but good luck with it.
This has been India's standard operating procedure since the late 1990s. The Indian head of state plays very 'hard to get' and Indians make a really big deal about whether they should or should not talk to Pakistan. Then finally, when their PM "kindly" grants the Pakistani PM/President an audience, it is hailed as such a grand gesture of peace, that all the concessions on the negotiating table are then expected to come from Pakistan in order to reciprocate the "very courageous" overtures from India.
The problem is that it is impossible to have one-sided peace where one party dictates all the terms. In Pakistan, there is a sizeable constituency that wants normalization of relations with India, and India bashing is no longer a political slogan that sells. Unfortunately, there is no corresponding peace constituency in India. You are called a "dove" if you want your PM to grant the Pakistani PM/President an audience, and a "hawk" if you oppose the meeting. In actual substance, even the "doves" in India expect all the major concessions on the negotiating table to come from Pakistan.
Indian PM has far more important things to attend to at the moment - economy is in a tailspin, investments drying out and poverty not yet beaten. With elections so close by and any meeting with Pakistani PM, resulting in mindless photography will be just a liability for the Congress. India's Pakistan issue at the moment is best left to the Indian Army to handle.
Don't know about Nawaz or MMS, but here is the somebody of great authority speaking to India right from the capital of Pakistan-> http://dawn.com/news/1041013/hafiz-saeed-leads-mass-rally-in-islamabad
Will they ?........won't they ?............would it matter ?
should it even matter if they meet, at a time when KPK/Tribal Areas and Baluchistan are in flames...courtesy our neighbour.
@Falcon: This is the time for both of the countries to join hands to improve the plight of their people rather than putting up theatrics of conflicts. There is no way to tackle poverty in two impoverished nations by "joining hands" - this is political jargon that has no basis in reality. If your solution is to cut defense budgets and feed the poor, pls remember that we are not the only two nations on earth and India has bigger defense concerns than Pakistan. If you have some other suggestions that cannot fructify without peace and bonhomie (I assume that trade does not - India has $ 75 B with China despite a very tense border) pls do share them.
Pundits have the political equivalent of the four-leaf clover out to guess whether Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif will meet on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly at New York. What does this even mean? A four-leaf clover brings the finder luck - will MMS meeting Nawaz Sharif bring the Pundits luck? Some more research is certainly advised. Second, you have also indicated that nothing significant will result from this meeting - so what then, Madam, is the point of all this hype? Instead of this, you could add some value by indicating concrete points for discussion during this (possible) meeting, but it is clear that you have none.
Most of the people of India and Pakistan share the same miseries of poverty. This is the time for both of the countries to join hands to improve the plight of their people rather than putting up theatrics of conflicts.
Pakistan is least of the problems facing India and India is the least of the problems facing Pakistan.
LOC skirmishes were a distraction. Meeting or no meeting no big deal. If (unfirtunately) PM Singh chooses to meet with Sharif and make a silly spectacle, India will reiterate Pakistan should stop promoting violence across LOC and elsewhere. Would it be a breakthrough for you author?