Editorial

Keep talking

Beneath the khaki layer, the business of peacemaking finds its wiggle-room, a stratum that we hope expands

Editorial August 18, 2015

There is going to be no grand breakthrough, no dramatic move or proposal by either side. Whilst this may sound like matters have made no headway at all, that would not necessarily be true. PHOTO: AFP

Despite the almost daily incidents of firing across the Line of Control (LoC) and the Working Boundary and the deaths of civilians as a result; and despite the Gurdaspur incident which India blames on Pakistan — the talks are to go ahead. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has now approved the agenda for talks that are to be held in New Delhi next week between the national security advisers of both India and Pakistan. The agenda has now been transmitted to New Delhi. It was accompanied by a confirmation letter in order to ensure that there would be no misunderstanding or ambiguity about what was on the table “and has to be discussed”. India had invited Sartaj Aziz to New Delhi earlier this month, and he and his counterpart Ajit Doval are scheduled to meet there on August 23-24.

There is many a slip ‘twixt the cup and the lip, and until the two delegations actually face one another across the table and the agendas before them, there can be no certainty that they will ever shake hands for the press photo. Meetings such as this have had a poor record for bearing fruit in recent years, and that the process has got this far has to be taken as an encouraging sign, one which we welcome.

Assuming they get off the ground successfully, these will be talks about talks rather than talks designed to reach definitive outcomes. There is going to be no grand breakthrough, no dramatic move or proposal by either side. There will be an anodyne statement at their conclusion and both sides will withdraw to their previous positions to mull next steps — if any.

Whilst this may sound like matters have made no headway at all, that would not necessarily be true. Both India and Pakistan understand that war is going to solve none of their many differences, but for reasons beyond reason, a military stance has to be maintained on both sides. Beneath the khaki layer, the business of peacemaking finds its wiggle-room, a stratum that we hope expands with the passing of time. We wish the respective delegations every success.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 19^th, 2015.

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