The usual joint statement which follows such meetings will also not be issued, indicating that this meeting is just a formality.
The much publicised ice-breaker between Indian and Pak foreign secretaries — Nirupama Rao and Salman Bashir — scheduled for Thursday, is expected to yield nothing more than a good photo-op.
The usual joint statement which follows such meetings will also not be issued, indicating that this meeting is just a formality. The government, having been bitten once in Sharm-el Sheikh, wants to be extra cautious.
Bashir making a courtesy call on prime minister Manmohan Singh now appears remote. Instead, he will have to be satisfied with a meeting with external affairs minister SM Krishna on Thursday.
Luckily for South Block, expectations from Thursday’s meeting are low. The general hype associated with an India-Pakistan meet is absent. At best, the talks will formally end the freeze in ties. The dialogue was called off after the Mumbai terror strikes of 2008 as public outrage forced the government to withdraw.
It is evident the talks are an attempt to clear the air and make a fresh start. Luckily for the government, the talks on Thursday are sandwiched between Wednesday’s railway budget and Friday’s general budget. Much of the nation’s attention will be diverted by these two mega events.
When Rao called Bashir, she offered two dates — February 18 and 25. It was Bashir who decided the date.
The importance of the meeting is not what happens inside but the fact that the freeze in ties between the two nuclear-armed nations after Mumbai terror strikes will formally end.
Both countries have come together also to score brownie points with the international community which has long urged the South Asian neighbours to renew their bilateral engagement.
The idea now is for both sides to lay their concerns on the table. For India, it will be terrorism, an action taken report on Mumbai, and the need to get the brain behind 26/11, Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed, arrested. Pakistan will talk of Kashmir and river water-sharing.
On his arrival, Bashir said: “I have come here to bridge the differences. I am hopeful of a positive outcome. We want to discuss all issues with India, including terrorism, but our main priority will be Kashmir.”
Soon after arrival, Bashir and his delegation had a meeting with separatist leaders Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Omar Farooq and Yasin Malik. The meeting was a signal to Kashmiris as well as their supporters in Pakistan that Islamabad continues to support their cause.
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