India, Pakistan back in talk mode

So far, there is a positive movement between the two neighbours. Indian officials hinted at either a joint declaration or a "joint appearance" of the two PMs
Sanjay Kapoor Hardnews Cairo

After refusing to break bread with Pakistan due to its alleged role in the attack on Mumbai on November 26, 2008, the Indian government has again chosen the backdrop of the progressively devalued non-aligned summit at the Egyptian resort of Sharm-el-Sheikh to kickstart the dialogue process.

In some ways what we witness is a repetition of what happened in the 2006 Havana summit when India and Pakistan decided to sort out the differences between the two countries.

Late last night India's foreign secretary, Shiv Shankar Menon, and his Pakistani counterpart, Salman Bashir, spent 90 minutes with each other. They decided to meet again today to put together an agenda for the bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani PM Yusuf Raza Gilani.

Earlier, the meeting in Yekatarinburg, Russia, to explore ways of returning to the negotiating table after Mumbai attacks, had rudely annulled the ongoing composite dialogue process. Thereafter, the two foreign secretaries had been mandated by the leaders of the two countries to get back to the drawing board. Indian foreign ministry officials gave an impression of a positive movement between the two countries and hinted at either a joint declaration or a "joint appearance" of the two PMs.

An indication of a positive outcome between the two countries was available during the journey from Delhi to Paris, when senior foreign officials, building on the spadework done by intermediaries and other back-channel entities, exuded optimism.

The Indian government had been demanding visible action by Pakistan against the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack. Pakistan's response, however, had been jerky both in investigation as well as countenancing the involvement of key players behind the bizarre attack. It could not put together a coherent and case backed by evidence against Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief, Hafiz Saeed. Indians had been dissatisfied with Islamabad's response. But, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari helped in creating the right atmosphere when he admitted that Pakistan had indeed backed terror groups. This admission, quite dramatic in many ways, showed that there was a manifest cleavage between the patrons of terror in the Pakistani defence establishment and the political leadership.

The recent talks between Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence chief and Indian defence attaché shows the transformed reality on the ground. Although no one in the two governments would really own up this fact, but what we are witnessing is really the playing out of a thesis pushed aggressively by US presidential envoy, Richard Holbrooke, and followed up by CIA chief, Leon Panetta, that the India and Pakistan should collaborate with each other to fight the jehadi threat.

Holbrooke's submission is that all the three countries - US, India and Pakistan - are faced with a common enemy that draws sustenance from the ungoverned space between Af-Pak and they need to fight jointly to smother it. The US negotiator had been stressing the link between terrorists who ravaged Mumbai and Pakistan's frontier and demanding greater involvement of Delhi. India has refused to get involved in Afghan affairs.

The Pakistan government, under pressure from the Americans, have been trying to clean up the Islamic militants that control large part of their country. This action has allowed the Pakistanis to tell the world and India that it is serious about fighting terror.