The Pathankot terror attack that became bigger than what the government expected has cast shadows of uncertainty on India-Pakistan foreign secretary level talks that are slated to begin on January 15.
The Pathankot terror attack that became bigger than what the government expected has cast shadows of uncertainty on India-Pakistan foreign secretary level talks that are slated to begin on January 15.
Finding itself caught in an awkward situation in the aftermath of the terror attack in which seven security personnel were martyred and 20 got injured, government on Sunday called a meeting of former foreign secretaries and envoys to Pakistan to decide on future line of action.
In the evening meeting that was chaired by external affairs minister, Sushma Swaraj, top officials and former NSA Shiv Shankar Menon and former foreign secretary Shyam Saran also took part. Other who attended the meeting were TCA Raghavan, who retired as India's high commissioner to Pakistan last month and his predecessors Satindra Lambah, SS Menon, Satyadutt Pal, and Sharad Sabharwal.
Though government officials were tight lipped on the outcome of the meeting, sources conceded that given the magnitude of the attack and increasing pressure by the opposition parties, shadows of uncertainty are now looming large on the future of the foreign secretary level talks that were to decide the future roadmap of taking the comprehensive dialogue process forward.
The decision on what course of action should be taken vis-à-vis the talks would depend on various factors like if there was involvement of Pakistan state actors and establishment in the Pathankot attack and at what level, sources said.
The government is apparently aware that going ahead with talks by totally neglecting the attack could harm its nationalist credentials and used by the opposition to launch scathing attack on it when several state elections are due in near future.
At the same time, the opportunity to start the dialogue process had come after much preparation in which the government and PM Modi had invested a lot by creating right atmospherics by keeping NSA meet in Bangkok under tight wraps, sending in Sushma Swaraj to Pakistan to prepare further and finally PM Modi himself surprising everybody by his sudden stopover in Islamabad to congratulate his counterpart Nawaz Sharif on his birthday on December 25.
“The situation will become clear only once government gets all the inputs and information and weighs the pros and cons in proper perspective. This may take a few days,” sources said.
Harm national credentials
The government is apparently aware that going ahead with talks by totally neglecting the attack could harm its nationalist credentials and used by the opposition to launch scathing attack on it when several state elections are due in near future.
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