The daring attack on the Pathankot airbase has once again set back the fledgling talks between India and Pakistan. The attack , which killed seven security personnel including an NSG commando, came days after the Prime Minister Narendra Modi made his dramatic stopover in Lahore to greet Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on his birthday. It was yet another cathartic moment in Indo-Pak relations after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayees bus yatra to Lahore in 1999, that time again to meet Sharif, then also Pakistan PM. The Lahore process the two leaders initiated was soon aborted by the Kargil war. It has been sixteen years since Kargil crisis and the two countries did get over it soon enough to pursue a drawn peace process which nearly culminated into a Kashmir settlement. The history has once again been repeated. A dramatic resumption of the dialogue between the countries has been followed by another major violent incident. Six militants who are said to have sneaked across from Pakistan held out for three days, thereby straining the new entente to its last limits.
Now the opinion in New Delhi is once again veering toward calling off talks. Atleast Finance Minister Arun Jaitely has signalled a degree of renewed ambivalence in Indias approach to the resumed dialogue. In a statement Jaitely said that the government will take a call on Indo-Pak talks after the Pathankot attack is over. And should this happen, it will be a tragedy. This will be the umpteenth time that the talks between the two countries or even the prospect for them will hit a familiar dead-end. And there appears no end to it. Even if the talks process goes ahead as scheduled, one can be sure of another future attack sending the situation back to square one. This is an endless cycle. More so, when there are any number of forces on both sides of the border who do not want any constructive engagement between the neighbours to come to fruition. And unless the two countries decide to come to grips with this reality of their engagement, there is no way the talks process can go forward. There is therefore the need for India and Pakistan to keep the dialogue going, knowing fully well that it is a deeply hazardous path and full of unpleasant surprises.Like Vajpayee did after Kargil war, Modi will have to press on with the dialogue.
There is now once again a clamour in India to put terrorism on top. But doing so will be tantamount to putting the horse before the cart. It is the long festering political issues between the countries including Kashmir which have been a cause of lingering bloodshed between the two countries. And if these issues are relegated to the background, the engagement would only end up perpetuating the state of conflict. In a recent statement, Modi spoke about pursuing talks with Pakistan to try and turn the course of history. He also talked of his aim to address outstanding issues, maintain stability on the border and develop greater mutual understanding and trust in our overlapping neighbourhood. Now the challenge for the neighbours is to press ahead with the painstaking process of dialogue and ensure it is sustained through the dramatic twists and turns in Indo-Pak relations. Only such an interruptible engagement could be hoped to usher in the long delayed dawn of peace.
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