On the fringes: Nawaz, Modi will ‘shake hands’ at SAARC summit

An official says neither India nor Pakistan has shown interest in meeting

ISLAMABAD:

There will be a ‘handshake’ between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi but a little chance of a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of a regional summit later this month in Nepal.

The two prime ministers are scheduled to attend the summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) in Katmandu on November 26 and 27.

“There will be a formal handshake but no bilateral meeting is planned as yet,” said a senior government official while requesting anonymity. “At this stage neither side has shown any interest in arranging a bilateral meeting between the two leaders.”



Recently, Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs Syed Tariq Fatemi said the onus of resuming the dialogue process was now on India. “India would now have to make the first move to start the stalled peace talks,” he told the BBC Urdu in an interview.

However, signals coming from New Delhi were not encouraging as the Indian external affairs ministry rejected reports regarding the possibility of a Nawaz-Modi meeting in Kathmandu. “There is no such proposal from any side,” said the ministry spokesperson.

Conversely, some sources claimed that a meeting between the two leaders could still be possible given the fact that some world powers, particularly the United States, would want de-escalation of tension between the two neighbours.

Sources said army chief General Raheel Sharif, who is travelling to Washington, on November 16, would brief the American civil and military leadership about the worsening situation along the Line of Control (LoC) and Working Boundary.

Sources said the army chief would convey to the US leadership that the worsening situation along the LoC and Working Boundary could have negative implications for the country’s campaign against extremism. “We have no interest whatsoever to open another front when we are already preoccupied with the ongoing operation Zarb-Azb,” said a security source.

Holding India responsible for the current situation, another official insisted that New Delhi wanted to declare Pakistan a ‘terrorist state’ by ratcheting up tensions.

At least 21 people mostly civilians have been killed on both sides of the frontier since the skirmishes between the two countries erupted in early October. Both sides blamed each other for starting the hostilities. The clashes were worst since the two nuclear-armed neighbours agreed on a landmark ceasefire in 2003.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 3^rd, 2014.