Despite the currently fluid nature of the geo-political situation of the region, India, Pakistan seem to have found a way of remaining constructively engaged – albeit uneasily at times. Pakistan foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar has, in an interview, only attested to this fact. Hina said that the two countries have decided to resolve their issues on the negotiating table. The foreign minister has also talked about a “non-selective” approach to the relations with immediate neighbours like India, China, Iran and Afghanistan. Hina’s statement comes in the wake of many recent positives in the ties between the two countries and significantly after the remarks of the country’s all-powerful army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kiyani in which he made a strong pitch for peace with India. Kiyani said Pakistan believes in a doctrine of peaceful co-existence with neighbours, especially India. He also sought an urgent solution to the Siachen stand-off saying the mammoth portion of national exchequer consumed by the need to man the glacier must be diverted to the people of the two countries.  Kiyani’s rare statement has come as a tremendous boost to the ongoing dialogue process between the two countries, as Pakistan army was earlier perceived to be antithetical to the cause of peace with India. But the question is will this feel-good environment end up generating something concrete? Will the two countries be able to finally achieve some remarkable breakthrough before they go to their respective parliamentary elections in the next two years. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has expressed a wish to do the same on his visit to Pakistan “at a mutually convenient time”. And going by the positive build-up between the two countries where less complicated issues like Siachen have assumed a certain centrality, things really are on the upswing and onto something real. But will this process end in a logical conclusion? The history of Indo-Pak relations is weighed against it. But we can still hope against hope.

Lastupdate on : Sun, 22 Apr 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 22 Apr 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 23 Apr 2012 00:00:00 IST