Editorial

Fruits of diplomacy

The meeting between two DGMOs is a significant step in the right direction and has our strong support.

Editorial December 18, 2013

The texture and quality of the relationship between India and Pakistan in the coming year is going to, in large part, determine the stability, or otherwise, of the region as a whole. PHOTO: FILE

Relations between Pakistan and India are at a crucial juncture. The texture and quality of their relationship in the coming year is going to, in large part, determine the stability, or otherwise, of the region as a whole. There has been tension along the Line of Control (LoC) since January this year with firing by both sides and casualties on both sides as well. The proposal that our respective Directors General Military Operations (DGMOs) meet regularly as a means of providing a ‘safety valve’ that becomes operant as needed and opens a window in the doors of diplomacy has long been mooted. That proposal has finally been concretised after some soft backchannel dialogue in the last two months. It is said to be an open secret that the Americans are pressuring India and Pakistan to move towards a rapprochement as the 2014 troop withdrawal deadline approaches, and the current government of Pakistan has from the outset made it plain that it wishes to re-energise the stumbling — and until recently, stalled — peace process.

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The two DGMOs are to meet on December 24. The meeting is in response to an invitation by Major General Amir Riaz to his Indian counterpart, Lieutenant General Vinod Bhatia, and will take place in Pakistan at an undisclosed location. The stated aim is to strengthen the mechanisms which will ensure that the ceasefire holds on the LoC. The meeting has its genesis in the sidelines contact between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the UN General Assembly in September. There were difficulties of protocol, there being no precedent for face-to-face contact between DGMOs, but these appear to have been ironed out. The recent visit of Shahbaz Sharif to India was a part of the ‘ironing’ process and was generally well received on both sides of the border. The two DGMOs have also been in touch with each other since the end of October, which has led to a de-escalation of tension and an agreement to abide by the terms of the 2003 ceasefire. This is a significant step in the right direction and has our strong support.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 19^th, 2013.

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COMMENTS (2)

polpot | 10 years ago | Reply

"This is a significant step in the right direction and has our strong support " +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The bar is set so low in Indo Pak relations that merely the scheduling of a meeting among middle ranking officals attracts editorial attention.! of course India is to blame for that.

Indignant | 10 years ago | Reply

Americans are pressuring India and Pakistan to move towards a rapprochement

Wonder where these gems of analysis originate from. Firstly come 2014 with the Americans bearing a smaller footprint, how would it matter to the US whether India and Pakistan have buried the hatchet?

Secondly while the US may not care about Pakistanis or Indians, they do care about their own citizens. More than the Indian government, it is highly likely that the Americans are keeping tabs on the culprits behind the 4 Americans killed in the Mumbai attacks.

Thirdly and most importantly, India at the present moment is incensed by the strip-search and incarceration of its diplomat in New York, Devyani Khobragde. India has already upped the ante and it appears that the relationship will see rock-bottom in the near future before it comes back to normal. Anyway what this recent incident shows is that we Indians do not toe the American line.

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