The renewed clamour in India for adopting a hardline approach in dealing with Pakistan is perhaps as predictable as the perennial reaction of the establishment doves, who never tire of advocating dialogue with Islamabad. But both approaches indicate that India, like most other countries, is at a loss to find the right peg for dealing with Pakistan.
The death of Osama bin Laden in an American military operation has currently established the sway of the hawkish view in India. Their refrain is: “If they can string along the Americans about bin Laden’s whereabouts for so long, what’s the guarantee they will honour their commitments to India?” But senior officials in the Union ministry of external affairs have made it clear that India will not break the dialogue process which began this year and is aimed at resolving outstanding issues and normalising relations with Pakistan.
As part of this commitment, officials from New Delhi will travel to Islamabad in the middle of this month to talk on the Tulbul-Wullar Barrage navigational project, which will be followed by talks between Indian and Pakistan defence mandarins on Sir Creek and Siachen glacier. And though seasoned diplomats dismiss out of hand the idea of an American-style operation as too precipitate, the hawkish sections in India have been pushing for a tougher line in engaging with Pakistan.
“We should put the onus on Pak, saying talks will move if they act against the 26/11 masterminds.”Kanwal Sibal, Former Foreign Secretary
As former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal told Outlook, “We should put the onus on Pakistan and make it clear that the progress of the dialogue between the two sides is solely dependent on how it responds to India’s demands for dealing with the perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attack, most of whom are either in their custody or are still operating from Pakistan. But instead, we have put the onus of the progress of the talks on ourselves.” Sibal suggests India should link the resumption of dialogue with Pakistan to its seriousness in dealing with the masterminds of the Mumbai attack.
Perhaps India could have done this, had the killing of bin Laden occurred before the World Cup semi-final match between India and Pakistan. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had utilised the opportunity to invite Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Reza Gilani. It was then made clear that the only way forward for the two sides was through dialogue. This decision cannot be reversed as there has been no direct provocation from Pakistan.
Hardliners in the establishment feel that India should exploit the new opportunity—of bin Laden being found holed up in Pakistan—to build an international coalition for mounting pressure on Pakistan to initiate action against the terror groups there. But a senior official asks, “We have tried to name and shame Pakistan in the past. But has it worked?”
There’s also the complicated Afghanistan issue. With the Obama administration committed to withdrawing its forces from Afghanistan, which can’t be achieved without Pakistan’s promise of not rocking the regime in Kabul, there’s little optimism about New Delhi securing Washington’s help in dealing with Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Says Srinath Raghavan of the Centre for Policy Research, Delhi, “The withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan is a reality we will have to deal with. Perhaps we will have to find an independent track to deal with Pakistan.” Some say India should take the chance of asking Pakistan to include Afghanistan as one of the key issues in the dialogue process. Perhaps that chance is worth taking after all, for the past shows that nothing we do seems to guarantee good neighbourly relations with Islamabad.
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