Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Future of Indo-Pak relations appear bright' that was published in Newsband

Future of Indo-Pak relations appear bright

The agreement by India and Pakistan to resume structured talks, which was stopped following the Mumbai terrorist attacks, marks a dramatic improvement in bilateral relations. Prime Minister Narendra Modi met his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in Paris on the sidelines of the Climate Conference at the National Security Adviser-level discussions held in Bangkok. Both sides have signalled that they are ready for a give-and-take approach. Pakistan has given assurances on an “early completion of the Mumbai attacks trial”, and “resolved to cooperate to eliminate” terrorism. India, on the other side, has agreed to include Kashmir on the dialogue agenda. The comprehensive dialogue will lead to economic ties, people-to-people contacts and high-level interaction. Things might improve considerably before Modi goes to Islamabad next September.

The Kashmir problem between India and Pakistan has been festering for too long a time, and is now linked to the sense of national prestige of both. Without the resolution of the Kashmir issue, there can be no real peace nor any cooperation between the two nuclear-armed neighbors. Therefore, both the countries must now commit themselves in real earnest to resolve it by engaging in whatever it takes in terms of give and take to achieve that goal. There just is no other solution. Both the countries must realize that the problem is taking its undue toll in terms of development opportunities for the people in the whole of south Asia. This is where the statesmanship of the two leaders on both sides of the border must come to full play.

This time the approach from both sides needs to be structured as Pakistan is dead serious. Tackle the easier challenges first and move on to more complex issues one step at a time. The negotiation points need to be well prepared. The results will have long term implications for both countries.

The political pundits feel that comprehensive talk and bilateral agreements are the superficial efforts which cannot resolve Kashmir issues and border disputes. We have been using this moderate's approach since independence and still both of the countries had not reached any consensus. In the past, we had fought three wars with Pak and every single day there was an incident of ceasefire violations at LOC which cost the life of soldiers every day. At this point of time leaders must change their outlook towards adversary and make an endeavor to take different approach. Our political leaders must learn from powers like Russia, Israel and USA - all of them set a good example against their adversary when it is required, so that enemy will have to think twice before any attack. We must separate politics from armed forces and provide them immunity and powers, so that they can operate freely at their own discretion. We must follow a cohesive approach which is comprising the amalgamation of security forces and patriotism against Pak.