THE INDIAN and Pakistani prime ministers have met for the first time in more than nine months on the sidelines of a regional south Asian summit in the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, signalling an easing of tension between the rival states.
No joint statement was issued after talks yesterday lasting 90 minutes between Manmohan Singh and Yousuf Raza Gilani in Bhutan’s capital, Thimpu. The two leaders agreed that their respective foreign ministers would soon meet to draw up a road map for future dialogue.
“The two sides have agreed to meet as soon as possible to work out the modalities of restoring trust and confidence in the relationship thus paving the way for a substantive dialogue on all issues of mutual concern,” Indian foreign secretary Nirupama Rao said.
“There was a lot of soul-searching here. The searchlight is on the future, not on the past,” she added indicating a shifting in India’s intransigent stance that opposed all talks with Pakistan.
In a separate press conference Pakistan’s foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said there were “no preconditions” or codicils to holding talks. He was referring to New Delhi’s earlier insistence that no dialogue was possible until Islamabad acted firmly against the terror group India blames for the 2008 Mumbai attack in which 166 people died.
After the three-day siege of Mumbai by 10 Pakistan-based gunmen, India repeatedly rebuffed Islamabad’s calls to resume suspended peace talks. It asserted that Pakistan had not done enough to bring the terrorists from the Lashkar-i-Taiba (LiT or Army of the Pure) Islamist group, which it blames for the carnage to justice.
Pakistan has admitted the attacks were partly planned on its soil and is trying seven men for their involvement. However, the LiT network based near the eastern of Lahore continues to operate freely in Pakistan.
For Delhi, re-engaging Islamabad in talks was a politically fraught move given strong domestic sensibilities about Pakistan.
Diplomatic sources, however, said a “nudge” from Washington and the deteriorating regional security situation, especially in Afghanistan, had India reaching out and opting for dialogue as a way out of the impasse.
The fourth and last round of talks under the “composite dialogue” India and Pakistan started in 2004 concluded in May 2008 in which little was achieved before they were abandoned after the Mumbai attack.
During those four years though, a modicum of peace prevailed between the two sides which, since independence 63 years ago, have fought three wars and an 11-week military engagement along the Kashmir border in May 1999.
The dialogue focused on eight issues that included the disputed Jammu and Kashmir province, cross-border terrorism, narcotics smuggling and nuclear and conventional military confidence building measures.