Continued re-engagement

By K.N. Pandita

India-Pak re-engagement on Kashmir centric CBMs and also other important matters of bilateral concern signifies improved and upgraded approach to the overall spectrum of bilateral relationship. There is a flurry of meetings and exchanges on the cards, beginning with a Pakistani delegation that landed in New Delhi on Sunday evening. The 13 July bomb blasts in Mumbai have not been allowed to vitiate the atmosphere of bilateral talks and Pakistan has formally, and her Prime Minister personally, condemned the terrorist act and sympathized with the victims. From smaller beginnings, there will be ascent to more important and crucial issues for deliberation including talks on nuclear security and anti-terrorist strategies. All this indicates maturing of interlocutors on both sides and their sincerity of intentions to iron out angularities. 

Political observers across the continents are closely watching the progress of Indo-Pak détente and the brightening of the prospect of peace in the sub-continent. The question is not who gains and who loses from what is mutually agreed upon; the fact of the matter is that it is the vast population of the sub-continent, almost one fourth of the entire human population that is going to benefit from friendly and cordial relations between the two warring neighbours. The process of re-engagement has to be looked upon from that angle.

If wisdom and statesmanship are allowed to have their way, good and friendly relations between the two countries could become a catalyst to a radical change in their economic condition. Both are developing countries and both have many problems in common. For some reasons, Pakistan is faced with more stringent economic conditions today than ever before. Though India is not in a very happy economic position as well, but she is on the path of economic improvement and is expected to emerge a strong economy in the Asian region after China. Pakistan as her next door neighbour can immensely benefit from this scenario. Trade and commerce with India on the basis of equality and justice would go a long way in cementing relations between the two countries. Europe is one economic zone and it has drawn immense benefits from it. India and Pakistan, too, can tie up in a manner so that there is free flow of trade between them. This is precisely what the US believes in. “India’s economic rise presents a huge opportunity for Pakistan, a bilateral breakthrough could provide a catalyst for wider regional economic integration in South and Central Asia,” Robert Hormats, Under Secretary for Economic, Energy and Agricultural Affairs, said. This official will be part of the delegation scheduled to be held in India this month, and from what he has said, is a signal to both the countries that the US would welcome any step forward in this direction. The foreign ministers of the two countries are expected to meet later this month and prior to their meeting the two foreign secretaries are again meeting to pave the way for some definite progress and measures to be announced following the foreign minister level meeting in New Delhi. We hope that this rare opportunity will not be missed by one or the other country, and that they will not get bogged with small and insignificant things. The ground is smooth for delivery and the people in both the countries expect concrete outcome of the process of re-engagement.

Blasts condemned:

There has been widespread condemnation of 13 July Mumbai bomb blasts from leadership of all hues in and outside the country. In a rare instance, the Grand Mufti of Jammu and Kashmir, Maulana Bashiru’d-Din also condemned the blasts calling it inhuman. The Maulana is highly venerated in Kashmir and is considered a very senior and mature religious figure who speaks very less and very rarely on political issues. But he has taken the human aspect of the bomb blasts into view and has suggested that “people from all walks of life have to cooperate to bring an end to these acts, which result in colossal loss of human life, particularly of innocent people.” Earlier other separatist leaders in Kashmir also condemned the attacks and implored people to unite against such heinous crimes. Thus while terrorism is spanning the entire sub-continent in one form or the other, there is growing realization among the civil society in both the countries, India and Pakistan, that they should coordinate their efforts to meet the challenge. Obviously, condemning terrorism also means rejecting the training and infiltration of armed gangsters on a foreign soil and inducing them to operate in India. This is not acceptable to anybody who is seriously interested in supporting peaceful atmosphere in relations between the two countries.

The redeeming factor is that no accusations have been made or aspersions cast on any country or its establishment for abetting the blasts in Mumbai. In other words the conspirators and their accomplices have essentially to be looked for in the country first. So far, no organization has taken the responsibility of making blasts and that is something unusual because in the past generally the perpetrators lionize themselves by informing the media that they take the responsibility. However there is a faint indication that the heinous crime has been committed in retaliation to the killing of a couple of top terrorists in Kashmir in recent encounters with the security forces. But officially there is no indication of possible group or organization involved. But amusingly, although the Mumbai police has so far desisted from mentioning any organization or person as the alleged perpetrator of this crime, the more loyal than the king, Mr. Digvijay Singh, Congress Secretary has not waited to bring the onus to the right-wing parties in the country who, as usual, appear to him what red rag is to the bull. He believes in insulating secularism of his brand by dumping all the dirt in front of the door of rightist parties. Is he trying to give a clean chit to the suspected Indian Mujahideen since these were obliquely mentioned in sections of media? Does he find his brand of secularism crumbling?

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