External Affairs Minister S M Krishna will visit Pakistan for three days from September 7-9 to review the dialogue process with his counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar. The visit which was scheduled in July was deferred due to presidential election. The new date, however, for the talks has hardly generated any excitement in Kashmir. The dialogue looks little more than a formality. What has further killed even the modest hope of a breakthrough on any issue is that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is unlikely to visit Pakistan this year.  Singh had earlier expressed his keenness to visit Islamabad but the fresh tension in the relations following the extradition of the Mumbai attack accused Abu Jundal from Saudi Arabia has apparently persuaded him to call it off. Terrorism as an issue is once again in the centre of the ongoing exchange between the two countries. New Delhi has also been put off by Pakistan’s decision to defer signing the visa pact in the May home secretary level talks in Islamabad. This stalled the move to grant businessmen from both sides the multiple-entry visas. The two countries have also failed to bring the talks on Siachen to a logical conclusion. Only gain of the year has been some perceptible movement on economic cooperation. But there is a long way to go before the two countries actually start a trading relationship. The foreign ministers meeting in September is unlikely to make any dramatic departure. And after this meeting there is little to look forward to in the following year. With Pakistan scheduled to go to polls, the government there will hardly be in a position to take major decisions. Same will be the case with the government in New Delhi which will have its eyes focused on 2014 polls. This means that the two countries can only think of productively engaging again sometime in 2015. Going by the outcome so far, India, Pakistan have already wasted yet another shot at resolving their long-festering issues and start living as good neighbours. And this is not good for the long term regional peace.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 25 Jul 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 25 Jul 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 26 Jul 2012 00:00:00 IST