120 Whither Kashmir? (Part II) - Islamabad Policy Research Institute

52 IPRI Factfile
his Pakistani counterpart in front of the media that her mandate was “to
tell you that the territory of Pakistan must not be used for terrorism.”
Pakistan, on the other hand, called for the recommencement of the
composite dialogue and stressed that the issue of terrorism should not be
allowed to make bilateral talks a hostage. The Pakistani side also called
for a peaceful solution of the Kashmir issue, besides conveying to India its
concerns over Indian activities aimed at supplying weapons to militants
and terrorists in Balochistan from Afghanistan. Pakistan also handed over
to India a paper on the water issue and expressed the hope that India
would agree to resolve the issue under the Indus Basin Waters Treaty. As
for the issue of terrorism, Salman Bashir pointed out to the media that
Pakistan had already taken steps against the suspects of Mumbai attacks
and would look into the dossiers handed over by India during the talks.
The net result of the foreign secretary-level talks was merely the
agreement to remain in touch with each other. The position remained
unchanged even after Salman Bashir’s courtesy call on the Indian Foreign
Minister Krishna who remarked that future engagement with Pakistan
would be “predicated on Pakistan’s response to our core concern on
terrorism.” This was not entirely surprising considering the high level of
anti-Pakistan sentiment in India, especially after the Mumbai tragedy, and
the criticism by some Indian opposition leaders of New Delhi’s move to
invite the Pakistani foreign secretary for talks. It was a measure of the
gulf between the two sides that the Pakistani foreign secretary did not
invite his Indian counterpart for a return visit to Islamabad. In fact, he
remarked after the talks that there was no need for secretary-level talks if
India remained stuck to its stand on outstanding issues. The best
interpretation that can be given is that the talks in New Delhi were
exploratory in nature aimed at gauging each other’s position and that
they marked the first step towards a gradual process of rebuilding mutual
trust leading hopefully to the resumption of the composite dialogue.
Obviously, the next SAARC Summit in Bhutan in April would provide a
valuable opportunity to the prime ministers of Pakistan and India to
carry forward the process of bilateral talks. But in view of the many ifs
and buts involved, it is anybody’s guess as to the timeframe in which
substantive dialogue on the outstanding issues of concern to the two sides
would be resumed.
The future prospects of Pakistan-India relations remain uncertain
considering the high level of mutual mistrust, the historical baggage of
mutual grievances, the complexity of the outstanding issues like Kashmir