Pak envoy meets Nirupama Rao on talks agenda

India and Pakistan took the first step on Friday to discuss the agenda for the proposed Foreign Secretary-level talks, an offer for which was made by New Delhi. Pakistan High Commissioner Shahid Malik met Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao in New Delhi in this context.

Malik met Ms. Rao in response to an offer of talks made by the Foreign Secretary to her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir about a week ago. She invited Bashir to Delhi for talks and proposed two set of dates in this month.

“We discussed the possible agenda and the dates for the meeting. We have to find mutually-convenient time and date,” Malik told the media after an hour-long discussion with Ms. Rao. He said he would inform the Pakistan government about his discussions he had with Ms. Rao.

Asked whether there would be resumption of the composite dialogue, which was stalled after the Mumbai attacks, Malik refused to pre-judge but said “we have agreed in the past that dialogue is the only way forward.”Noting that so many issues form part of the composite dialogue, he said, “these are issues which are of concern to Pakistan and India and attempt is to keep talking about the issues which are of concern to us.”

Before the Indian and Pakistan Foreign Secretaries meet, Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram will have a chance to know about Islamabad’s thinking on many issues including measure to check terrorist activities emanating from its soil, when he attends a SAARC meet.

In the meanwhile, the meeting of interior ministers of the SAARC countries in Islamabad scheduled for February 26-28, in which Home minister Chidambaram was expected to represent India, has been postponed. The meeting was postponed as the dates for the visit did not suit the Nepalese home minister, informed sources said. Fresh dates are being discussed.

Even as Pakistan Prime Minister Gilani has welcomed any offer of dialogue from New Delhi, the fact that anti-India jihadi groups held a conference in public in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir’s Muzaffarabad, on Feb 4 is a worrying factor for India. Gilani has also been quoted by an agency as saying Kashmir must be separated from India.

Similarly Pakistani Army chief, Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has said the army will remain "India-centric" until the Kashmir issue and water disputes were resolved. In a presentation to Pakistani media, Kayani made it clear that the army's "frame of reference" for addressing the problems in the country included certain concerns that are India specific.

History, unresolved issues, India's military capability and its "Cold Start" doctrine meant that Pakistan could not afford to let its guard down, Dawn.com quoted Kayani as saying. "We plan on adversaries' capabilities, not intentions," he added.

"The tough, matter-of-fact line on India was in stark contrast to that of Gen. Kayani's predecessor, Gen. (retd) Musharraf, who tried hard to push for peace with India in his latter years in power," Dawn.com noted.

"Gen Kayani, though, does not carry the dual burden of being president and the army chief, which perhaps explains the narrower, militaristic formulation of Pakistan's posture towards India," it added.

Kayani repeatedly highlighted the threat posed by India's "Cold Start" doctrine, and said it would permit the Indian Army to attack before mobilising and thus increasing the possibility of a "sudden spiral escalation".

At the same time, Kayani pointed out that he did not have a one-dimensional view of security. Despite the fact that India's defence budget was "seven times" that of Pakistan's, "there has to be a balance between development and military spending", he noted.

He also maintained that "peace and stability in South Asia should not be made hostage to a single terrorist act of a non-state actor", a reference to the November 2008 Mumbai attacks.

On Afghanistan, too, India featured in Kayani's comments. Rejecting India's reported interest in training the Afghan National Army and the country's police force, he argued that Pakistan had a more legitimate expectation to do so.

"Taken together, Gen Kayani's comments suggest that the possibility of a thaw in relations between India and Pakistan any time soon is low," according to Dawn.com.

- Asian Tribune -