The News - 17-07-10

Dangerous deadlock

The much-hyped foreign minister level talks between Pakistan and India led nowhere at all. Despite the valiant efforts made in Islamabad to add a positive spin to the rather unsuccessful negotiation efforts, it was obvious Mr S M Krishna and Mr Shah Mehmood Qureshi had made very little headway. The reasons could have been predicted weeks ago. The Indian side, we are told, remained determined through the talks stretched over several sessions to demand answers from Pakistan on the questions it put on terrorism, notably the action against the Mumbai-bombing suspects and Hafiz Saeed, the man New Delhi sees as the mastermind behind the daring assault in November 2008. Pakistan, for its part, felt unable to bring up the issues central to its own interest – for instance those concerning Siachen, Kashmir and human rights abuses there with the Indian side stone-walling these attempts and insisting it had no mandate to discuss them.

This is of course somewhat disappointing, though just the fact that dialogue has been opened up and apparently preceded fairly cordially for the most part is welcome. There are lessons too in what happened. Building up too many expectations or putting out too much hope on the table is always unwise; it creates the ideal situation for the kind of letdown we see now, with smiles appearing on the faces of some hawks. The same mistake has been made before. It had been obvious that rebuilding trust after the events of 2008 would take time and effort. It is too soon yet to start talking of failure. Nevertheless, the difficulties Pakistan and India face in getting past stumbling blocks is frustrating. The problems we see now have persisted far too long.

They act essentially to hurt both countries and their people, making it less likely that we will overcome militancy in the near future or move towards the stability the region so badly needs. What, then, are the answers to this rather entrenched situation? As the years have gone by the difficulties have grown more and more complex. We need a radical change in attitudes, a fresh vision and a new sense of dynamism. This will come only if people can be pushed forward into the picture and used to build up the momentum needed to take talks forward, past the awkward bends in the road and the tendency of some drivers to apply the brakes too hard. More contacts between people is needed for this, combined with a recognition by leaders that there is really no option but to move towards peace and find the courage to abandon familiar, old positions in favour of something new.

Source : http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=251273