It has been a difficult year for India-Pakistan relations. Not since the 2008 Mumbai attacks has the peace process, fragile at the best of times, looked so vulnerable. Especially since the abduction and gruesome beheading of an Indian soldier, allegedly by soldiers from the Pakistan army, and a series of attacks in Kashmir over the summer.
Public opinion in India has hardened in recent months with jingoistic calls for targeted American-style strikes against Pakistani militants and the suspension of the decade-long “composite dialogue’’ until Pakistan delivers on its promise to rein in extremists and punish the perpetrators of the Mumbai atrocity.
In turn, hawks in Islamabad have stepped up their own campaign, accusing New Delhi of funding and inciting insurgency in Baluchistan, and targeting Pakistan’s strategic interests in Afghanistan.
But the good news is that peace has won a breather, at least for now, with the prime ministers of the two countries committing themselves to “re-energising’’ their talks.
Meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly session in New York, Manmohan Singh and Nawaz Sharif shrugged off dissenting voices and declared that the dialogue would go ahead.
It was a gesture of defiance and was intended to send a strong message to those insurgent groups who, barely hours before the talks, had attacked a police station and an Indian army base in Kashmir sparking nationwide outrage.
Unsurprisingly, the right-wing opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) warned Mr Singh against “hugging the enemy’’. Even some peaceniks questioned the timing of the meeting.
Often derided for lacking spine, the Indian prime minister, though, stood up well to pressure arguing that he would not allow terrorists a veto on the peace process even as he lambasted Pakistan, calling it an epicentre of terrorism in the region.
He told his domestic critics that the only way to make friends with the enemy was to “hug” them.
Mr Sharif, too, took a big risk. He must have upset many in Pakistan, especially the powerful army establishment and the intelligence agency, ISI, both of whom have a long history of hostility towards India and are known to provide covert support to anti-India terror groups. It was the Pakistani army, then led by Pervez Musharraf, which toppled Mr Sharif in a coup after his 1998 landmark Lahore peace accord with India.
Mr Sharif admitted that there were forces in his country, including elements of the army, who wanted to derail the peace process, as was evident from the Kashmir incident.
Such acts of provocation, aimed at inviting retaliation from the Indian side, happened every time the two sides tried to move the dialogue forward. It was, therefore, important to put up a united front and not play into the peace-wreckers’ agenda.
Beyond the effusive mood music, however, the meeting yielded little.
There was no progress on any of the major issues – terrorism, trade or Afghanistan.
Indeed, there was so little to report that even a formal joint statement, normally diplomatic de rigueur after such high-level talks, was not issued.
A vague agreement on making a greater effort to hold the ceasefire along the Line of Control (LOC) was the only tangible outcome.
It was decided to ask the Directors-General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two countries to meet and suggest ‘’effective means to restore the ceasefire and ensure it remains in force and in place’’.
For the rest, the two prime ministers stuck to a careful script, with Mr Singh reiterating India’s demand for the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack, especially its alleged mastermind, Hafiz Saeed, to be brought to book. Mr Sharif, meanwhile, not wanting to be seen as being ‘’soft’’ by his critics, echoed allegations of Indian interference in Baluchistan, which India promptly rejected claiming there was ‘’no evidence’’.
Both sides made much of the atmospherics pointing to the “sense of comfort’’ the leaders exuded in each other’s company, despite not having ever officially met before. But more important was a common desire to take the peace process forward.
There is a tortuous history of hostility between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
They have fought three major wars, and are divided by a huge deficit of trust, partly a legacy of Partition. The divide will only grow wider if they stop talking to each other.
Indeed, there are few situations to which Winston Churchill’s preference for “jaw-jaw’’ rather than “war-war’’ applies better than in the case of India and Pakistan.
But what next?
One meeting, however heavy with symbolism, is no substitute for real progress on the ground. For that to happen, Pakistan must address Indian concerns over cross-border terrorism.
India, meanwhile, needs to show greater magnanimity in accommodating Pakistan’s concerns over trade and travel. It must also explore more imaginative ways of resolving the Kashmir dispute. Power-sharing could be one solution.
And what better moment to seize the day than now, not least because Mr Singh and Mr Sharif are "country cousins'', the Indian prime minister having been born in what is now Pakistan.
The two leaders share a common cultural heritage and are said to prefer talking to each other in their native Punjabi, famous for its earthy jokes, than in English. In the end, this personal chemistry can prove important as they move beyond handshake diplomacy.
Hasan Suroor is a London-based Indian journalist
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A new relationship with the old country
Treaty of Friendship between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates
The United kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates; Considering that the United Arab Emirates has assumed full responsibility as a sovereign and independent State; Determined that the long-standing and traditional relations of close friendship and cooperation between their peoples shall continue; Desiring to give expression to this intention in the form of a Treaty Friendship; Have agreed as follows:
ARTICLE 1 The relations between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates shall be governed by a spirit of close friendship. In recognition of this, the Contracting Parties, conscious of their common interest in the peace and stability of the region, shall: (a) consult together on matters of mutual concern in time of need; (b) settle all their disputes by peaceful means in conformity with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations.
ARTICLE 2 The Contracting Parties shall encourage education, scientific and cultural cooperation between the two States in accordance with arrangements to be agreed. Such arrangements shall cover among other things: (a) the promotion of mutual understanding of their respective cultures, civilisations and languages, the promotion of contacts among professional bodies, universities and cultural institutions; (c) the encouragement of technical, scientific and cultural exchanges.
ARTICLE 3 The Contracting Parties shall maintain the close relationship already existing between them in the field of trade and commerce. Representatives of the Contracting Parties shall meet from time to time to consider means by which such relations can be further developed and strengthened, including the possibility of concluding treaties or agreements on matters of mutual concern.
ARTICLE 4 This Treaty shall enter into force on today’s date and shall remain in force for a period of ten years. Unless twelve months before the expiry of the said period of ten years either Contracting Party shall have given notice to the other of its intention to terminate the Treaty, this Treaty shall remain in force thereafter until the expiry of twelve months from the date on which notice of such intention is given.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned have signed this Treaty.
DONE in duplicate at Dubai the second day of December 1971AD, corresponding to the fifteenth day of Shawwal 1391H, in the English and Arabic languages, both texts being equally authoritative.
Signed
Geoffrey Arthur Sheikh Zayed
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