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Pak plays hard ball: Composite talks or nothing

It was clear during the London conference on Afghanistan last month that India was increasingly out of sync with international opinion and if New Delhi continued to be standoffish, it could risk getting isolated.

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Pakistan has clearly laid down the ground rules for engagement with India, insisting that the meeting of foreign secretaries should focus on resumption of the composite dialogue.

Pakistan high commissioner Shahid Malik met foreign secretary Nirupama Rao on Friday in her South Block office to make the point that the stalled composite dialogue must be revived. Sensing that India has lost diplomatic ground by refusing to talk to its nuclear-armed neighbour for over a year, Pakistan is playing hard ball and hopes to get India to agree to a composite dialogue, or nothing.

It was clear during the London conference on Afghanistan last month that India was increasingly out of sync with international opinion and if New Delhi continued to be standoffish, it could risk getting isolated. Pakistan knows this well and wants to drive home the advantage.

But after meeting Rao, Malik politely told waiting reporters that Pakistan welcomed India's offer for talks and that he had a useful discussion with the foreign secretary. He also said if India wanted to talk terrorism, he had no problems. Malik said he would report to his government and get back.

Government sources said Rao called Pakistan’s foreign secretary with the offer of dialogue about 10 days ago. Officials also said India was willing to discuss all issues with Pakistan “with terrorism at the centre” and “labelling or jargon” for the talks was not important.

This is a clear indication that New Delhi is not comfortable about going back to the “composite dialogue” because it would open a can of worms domestically.

Since 26/11, India has consistently said that it would not resume the composite dialogue until Pakistan agreed to bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack to justice and took strong action against anti-India terror groups.

The opposition would go hammer and tongs at the government for agreeing to engage with Pakistan without the latter cracking down on the terror infrastructure which is still intact across the line of control.

Pakistan prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani set the ball rolling by claiming on Friday that international pressure had forced India to return to the negotiating table. He was speaking at a function to mark ‘Kashmir Solidarity Day’ in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). Anti-India rallies were held across PoK and Punjab on the day.

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