Efforts on to restart Indo-Pak peace process

Decision-makers in Delhi and Islamabad are likely to reinitiate diplomatic efforts to resume the stalled peace process within a month of formation of a new government in India.

Well-placed sources in Islamabad diplomatic circles said the British and US governments had been pushing India to come to the negotiating table with Pakistan and restart the peace process, suspended after the Mumbai terrorist attack in November 2008.

The sources said normalisation of relations between the two South Asian nuclear-armed neighbours was important for India to play a role in Afghanistan without resistance from Pakistan, as desired by US and other Western nations. “It is important to reduce tension before India is involved in Afghanistan in a big way,” they said.

Foreign office sources in Islamabad said India had been insisting that it would not start the peace process until Pakistan took concrete measures to prosecute the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack. Pakistan has already sent a second set of queries comprising 11 questions to India to help build a fool-proof case against the suspects in its custody.

Once India responds, it would start the process of prosecution, the sources said.
Foreign office spokesman Abdul Basit said Pakistan wanted to solve all outstanding issues with India through peaceful negotiation. “I hope India will positively respond to our peace overtures and sooner than later, start a composite dialogue to solve all issues, including Kashmir,” he said.