The Indo-Pak foreign minister level talks have been deferred in view of the presidential elections scheduled to be held on July 19. Also cited as the reason is the political upheaval in Pakistan as a result of the Supreme Court’s disqualification of the prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and the new development of the arrest of Mumbai attack suspect Abu Jindal. The talks have now been pushed to sometime in August. However, foreign secretary level talks will go ahead as scheduled on July 4-5. The new developments in both countries have somehow broken the rhythm of the engagement and introduced a new element in the form of Jindal’s arrest. New Delhi has already renewed its call to Pakistan to act against the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack. There is now a reinforced demand to bring to book the  Jamat-u-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed who is alleged to be the mastermind of 26/11. This is likely to add some complicacy to the otherwise smooth – albeit unproductive – engagement. The two countries have already failed to lead to a tangible conclusion the dialogue on Siachen. The foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai and his Pakistani counterpart Jalil Abbas Jilani will hold talks on a range of issues spanning peace and security, including CBMs and J&K. However, the atmosphere remains singularly un-conducive for any breakthrough.  Same for the foreign minister level talks when they are held around August. The talks process therefore seems headed for a showdown despite what had appeared to be promising build-up early this year on Siachen and the bilateral trade. The growing seriousness on economic cooperation between the two countries, however, remains the only gain of the current engagement. But such a gain is likely to be undone by the lack of progress on any of the lingering political issues between the two countries. The only hope left is the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s likely visit to Islamabad later this year. Singh has always expressed his keenness to make his visit meaningful. One would hope that the foreign secretary level talks and subsequent talks between foreign ministers build up a momentum for the summit level meeting in Islamabad. This is the last option to salvage the current phase of dialogue process before the governments in both countries get into election mode in the next year. 

Lastupdate on : Wed, 27 Jun 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 27 Jun 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 28 Jun 2012 00:00:00 IST