India, Pakistan try to thaw chill

[AR]

India, Pakistan try to thaw chill​

Shubhajit Roy
Posted: Sep 15, 2010 at 0412 hrs IST




New Delhi Two months after a bitter public spat collapsed the bilateral talks, India and Pakistan are picking up the straws to re-engage each other, once again. Conversation has begun between New Delhi and Islamabad for a possible meeting — at least a “pull-aside” one — between the two foreign ministers in New York, where both are expected to attend the 65th United Nations General Assembly meeting later this month.

Sources told The Indian Express that Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad Sharat Sabharwal recently met Pakistan Foreign secretary Salman Bashir and indicated New Delhi’s intentions to engage with Pakistan.

This was followed up by Pakistan High Commissioner Shahid Malik, when he met External Affairs minister S M Krishna at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Iftaar party last week, sources said.

There is a large window of opportunity, since Krishna will leave New Delhi on September 19 and will return on September 30. The external affairs minister will stay in the US for about 10 days, so the officials in South Block are quite hopeful of a meeting.

Krishna and his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi will be sharing the table on many occasions, including the SAARC foreign ministers’ meeting on the sidelines of the UNGA.

South Block is discussing the strategy for the talks since both sides are keen for a “substantial meeting” — and not just a photo opportunity, especially since the atmosphere has been quite amicable from both sides in the last few weeks.

New Delhi had offered assistance of US $ 25 million to Pakistan for the flood-affected, as both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and External Affairs minister S M Krishna had communicated to their counterparts separately. Pakistan PM Yousaf Raza Gilani had sent five boxes of mangoes as a reciprocal gesture.

This was followed by a civil society initiative, which prompted both governments to release prisoners of each others’ countries. While the Pakistan government decided to release 442 Indians from Pakistan jails, the Indian government announced that 31 Pakistan nationals will be released on September 15.

Officials said the government is hoping that the conducive atmosphere will provide for an enabling environment for a meeting to take place between the two foreign ministers.

Though the Pakistan government has issued statements on the Kashmir situation, New Delhi sees them as a regulation exercise — and objectionable — but is equally conscious that they should not be allowed to scuttle the possibility of a meeting.

Also, New Delhi is closely watching a trial in a Rawalpindi court, where the Pakistan government is expected to propose for a judicial panel — proposed by Islamabad to come and record the statements of the magistrate and the chief investigating officer into the Mumbai terror attack.

New Delhi is hoping the trial moves at a faster pace. Home Minister P Chidambaram recently spoke to Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik to get an update on the situation.

Everything put together, officials said the government is practical enough to try out another reaching out with Islamabad, since Singh has been quite clear and categorical in his approach. Krishna, officials said, will also reiterate his invitation to Shah Mahmood Qureshi for visiting India, when they meet in New York.