Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid. PHOTO: FILE
India’s External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Wednesday cautioned against playing into the hands of “elements in Pakistan” that want to sow mistrust between New Delhi and Islamabad, as he justified Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s move to hold talks with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in New York.
“Our prime minister has said there is no option but to trust [in the dealing of countries with each other], but the trust must be matched with our readiness and our insistence on verification,” said Khurshid upon his return from Sri Lanka.
The minister said government was aware about “elements in Pakistan” who are against normalcy of ties between the two countries. “We would be playing into their hands, if we cut off all avenues of communication with the elected government of Pakistan, which has a clear mandate for better relations with India because during the campaign Nawaz Sharif had made that into a prominent issue,” he said.
Khurshid, who was responding to a flurry of questions in the backdrop of Indian accusations of infiltration, counselled patience and fortitude while admitting that India felt betrayed by infiltration attempts on the Line of Control. Khurshid was among those, who in New York were supportive of continuing talks with Pakistan despite a terrorist bid to derail them by attacking an Indian Army post and storming a police station just hours before the scheduled meeting of the two premiers.
“We have asked the DGMOs to meet and meet as often as possible to eliminate causes of friction in the past as
well as to ensure that these things don’t keep getting repeated,” Khurshid said in the context of the standoff along the Line of Control.
“We are still in the process of trying to find solutions. I don’t think we should get disappointed and give up too soon,” he added.
Conditional talks
Indian administered Kashmir’s Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday said it would be impossible to normalise ties between India and Pakistan, if ‘infiltration’ continued. “In New York Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in clear terms that infiltration and ceasefire violations should stop,” Abdullah said while talking to reporters in Srinagar.
He said the two premiers had agreed to reintroduce a mechanism to establish a contact – that is the director-general military operations of both the nations would talk to each other. “Perhaps we will benefit from that,” he added.
“We will surely talk, but we cannot get the desired results from the dialogue, until infiltration and ceasefire violations are not stopped,” said Abdullah.
The chief minister echoed the line taken by former National Security Adviser Shyam Saran that ‘alleged’ infiltration continued even when the two countries stopped talking, so freezing talks was neither effective, nor useful as a policy tool.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 10th, 2013.
COMMENTS (5)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
1732354127-0/Untitled-design-(3)1732354127-0-270x192.webp "north america s oldest macaroni penguins mark their 40th year")
1732344836-0/BeFunk_§_]__-(37)1732344836-0.jpg "israeli attack targets hospital killing seven medics in lebanon")
Just because Pakistan can tolerate Terror and still push for talks with TTP, doesn't mean India has to do the same.
In the Keran sector on the Indian Kashmir side at the LOC, it took days to kill the Terrorists, who were getting supporting fire from the opposite side. Who were those firing? Were they the Pak Army or was the Pak Army so incompetent as to not know Terrorists holed up on their side of the LOC?
@Candid1:
I think before Pakistani establishment go for a dialogue they should clear their stand about what they want.
they want jammu and kashmir to be part of Pakistan they want Jammu and Kashmir to be free they want Plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir. Or they just want to satisfy their ego by annihilating Jammu and Kashmir from India no matter what people of Jammu and Kashmir want.Before anbody answer this they should also consider that. J&K Govt. was elected by more than 90% voter turn out. In Blochistan it was 41% voter turn out out of which many are bogus voters(not sure about percentage however there was an article on tribune regarding this) and 55% voter turnout in whole pakistan in 2013 election.
Dialogue chances are ruined by false Indian allegations of infiltration. In the final analysis, if India really wants to normalize relations with Pakistan then it has to end its occupation of Kashmir. How long do they think the Pakistani public will tolerate a government that is bending over backwards to appease a country that is militarily occupying such a large part of Pakistan?
Why Indian daydream that they're doing some favor to Pakistan by holding some 'useful' dialogues.
Okay, let us assume there are elements in pakistan that is against normal relations between India and Pakistan. While the foreign minister reminds the Indians to not fall prey to these elements designs, he also needs to understand Indian citizens will also watch how the Pakistani establishment responds to these incidences. So far the Pakistani establishment is saying Indian media and Army is fabricating these incidences and there is nothing like this is happening at the LOC. So Foreign Minister would you still talk to a Government which does not acknowledge these incidences but also accuses your Army and media of war mongering.