New Delhi: On 27 Nov 2014, when the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan- Narendra Modi and Nawaz Sharif were pictured shaking hands and exchanging smiles at the close of the 18th SAARC summit in Nepal, there had in fact been a breakthrough of sorts- a quiet meeting between the two leaders lasting about 15 minutes.
At the leaders-only retreat on the sidelines of the summit, the two premiers met in Dhulikhel outside Kathmandu and discussed the issues and challenges their governments would face if they did not engage, the report reveals. They reportedly agreed to wait for some more time, after which they might have the political space to move on the stalled bilateral talks.
While this thaw in the deep India-Pak freeze was not made public at the time, reports now suggest that the refresh button might have been pressed on the eight-point agenda that had been set in motion about two months ago, in bilateral talks between the bitter neighbours. Foreign Secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan were called off in August last year at the eleventh hour because the Pakistan High Commissioner in New Delhi held consultations with Kashmiri separatists.
However, Indias PM used cricket diplomacy, to call his Pakistani counterpart on 13 Feb, to convey his best wishes to the Pakistani team ahead of the World Cup cricket series starting on Sunday, 15 Feb, in Adelaide.
He also also called leaders of four other SAARC nations participating in the tournament. Soon after, it was announced that Indias new Foreign Secretary- S Jaishankar would visit Islamabad where he would push the bilateral agenda. Modi said, Jaishankar would undertake a “SAARC Yatra” soon to strengthen the relationship with member nations. Sharif welcomed the foreign secretary’s proposed visit “to discuss all issues of common interest, which he said would include Kashmir.
According to the Indian Express during the secret meeting between Modi and Sharif in Kathmandu last year, there was no real agreement on how to move ahead. But both had decided to wait and move slowly because of the elections in Jammu and Kashmir. Officials from the two sides had reportedly agreed to keep in touch, depending on political sensitivities. It was after this brief meeting between the two leaders that they were seen shaking hands at the closing ceremony of the SAARC summit in Kathmandu.
The one-step-forward and two-steps back bilateral dialogue got its next boost to proceed after the deadly attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar on December 16, the report says. Modi called Sharif within 12 hours of the attack on December 16, creating diplomatic space to restart the process of engagement. However, while officials prepared for the next move, the acquittal, immediately afterward, of Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi, one of the masterminds of the Mumbai attacks, put a spanner in the works, sources said.
Most contacts after the school attacks were through informal channels- the only visible one was when Indias National Security Adviser Ajit K Doval and then foreign secretary Sujatha Singh went to the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi to sign the condolence book.
The report quotes sources to say the two sides through a number of under-the-radar meetings at a high level over the past few months have agreed that the sequencing of the Pakistan envoys meeting with Hurriyat leaders is the only issue. While the High Commissioner can meet Hurriyat leaders on their National Day or any other time of the year, India made it quite clear that there should not be any meeting before the official talks.
Once this issue was resolved and conveyed through official as well as unofficial channels (the latest being the meeting of former Pakistan NSA Mahmud Ali Durrani with Doval in early February) the Indian government cleared a visit to Pakistan by Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to attend a meeting on the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline. Sources said that the governments decision to send a minister instead of a bureaucrat for the meeting was a signal to the Pakistan establishment.
We want certain issues to go up on the agenda. Pakistan is pushing some other issues. Water has suddenly become a core issue, although we insist on following the tenets of the Indus Water treaty, an official source in the Ministry of External Affairs said.
Besides, Islamabad has pointed out that India has not discussed Kashmir in any substantive manner, the source added.
New Delhi, on the other hand, has strongly conveyed that Pakistan has not followed through on its commitment on curtailing terrorism. There is fresh thinking on how to structure the talks henceforth, another official source said.
After the last three-day bilateral talks in Islamabad in September 2012, Indias former External Affairs Minister- S M Krishna and his counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar had expressed satisfaction at holding meetings on the eight points the two countries focused on, including: counter-terrorism (also progress on the 26/11 trial) and narcotics control, humanitarian issues, commercial and economic cooperation, Wullar Barrage/Tulbul navigation project, Sir Creek, Siachen, peace and security, Jammu & Kashmir and promotion of friendly exchanges.
Pakistans Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said in Lahore on Saturday, 14 Feb, We will welcome the visit of Indian foreign secretary here as Pakistan wants peaceful relations with its neighbours. Modis cricket diplomacy was considered as ice-breaking after a six-month hiatus in Indo-Pak ties. Significantly, Modi’s telephonic call to Sharif came hours after US President Barack Obama spoke with the Pakistani Prime Minister.
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