ISLAMABAD: The federal government has decided to revive backdoor diplomacy with India as part of efforts to normalise ties with its nuclear-armed neighbour.
A senior government official, who is engaged in foreign policy matters, told The Express Tribune that a retired diplomat will soon be appointed to pursue the normalisation process with India through the backchannel which refers to negotiations which take place away from the public glare.
The two countries have used backchannel diplomacy in the past the 2003 ceasefire agreement across the Line of Control is credited to such a process.
Under former president Pervez Musharrafs regime, his close aide Tariq Aziz and veteran Indian diplomat S K Lambah were engaged in secret diplomacy to find an out-of-box solution to the longstanding Kashmir dispute.
In a background briefing, a top foreign ministry official said the focus of the backdoor diplomacy would be on preventing the peace process between the two countries from being derailed by any incident.
Unfortunately, Pakistan-India relations are accident prone, the official added. The two countries need to set up a mechanism to ensure the peace process stays on track.
The official dismissed the impression that Pakistan governments approach was apologetic towards India. The focus of the new government is to put its own house in order so that we can talk to India from a position of strength, he said.
And for that we need some time, the official added when asked as to why Pakistan was reluctant to publicly talk about Indias involvement in destabilising the country.
The official acknowledged that the recent attack on foreign tourists at a Nanga Parbat base camp had both internal and external dimensions. Once the investigations are complete we will raise this issue, he added.
Former foreign secretary Shamshad Ahmed Khan said the new government must not make any hasty decision on foreign policy issues, especially on ties with India. Sometimes you need to rely on backchannel but the major disputes such as Kashmir must not be discussed secretly, Shamshad cautioned.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 27th, 2013.
Pakistan to revive
