Pakistan and India Friday agreed on holding talks on all issues including terrorism as their leaders met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit. The agreement came as Prime Ministers Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi held an hour-long meeting at the Russian city of Ufa in a bid to restart the stalled peace process between the two countries. Yesterday’s meeting between prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Narendra Modi in Ufa, Russia, produced several specific breakthroughs that must surely be welcomed in the context of a deteriorating regional security and diplomatic climate.While this is a positive development, which allows us to be cautiously optimistic about the future, Nawaz Sharif has been too pliant, not just in this meeting, but during the course of the relationship. While local politicians may criticise the body language and the postures adopted by the Prime Minister during the meeting, the real problem lies in the five-point agenda agreed by the leaders.The hour-long meeting between the two prime ministers may dissipate the growing tensions between the two neighbours. It is worth noting that this was the first meeting between the two since Nawaz Sharif attended Modi’s swearing-in ceremony in May. The past few months have seen Modi and his ministers issue a number of provocative statements against Pakistan. Similarly, the Pakistani civilian and military leadership have made it a habit to blame India for our internal woes. The hope is that the meeting will bring an end to this blame game. In remarks to various fora at the summit as well as the media, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif outlined what he believed was the best approach to regional peace. His ideas revolved around four proposals: people-to-people contact, confidence building in peace and security, trade, and regional connectivity. The last in particular is these days a favourite theme of Nawaz Sharif’s government since it swung the agreement with China to build the potentially game changing China Pakistan Economic Corridor. Connecting people, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif argued, brought in its trail peace and prosperity. He emphasised Pakistan’s determination to combat and eliminate terrorism, implying an appeal to all regional countries to cooperate in this regard. In Pakistan and India the focus of the media and commentators has inevitably focused almost exclusively on the expectations, or lack of them, from the meeting between the two prime ministers.The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit in Russia provided a timely opportunity for some large-scale housekeeping, and the statement issued after the two leaders met on the sidelines of the Summit contains rather more substance than is usual for such communications. A New Delhi meeting between the national security advisers and annual meetings between the directors general of the Border Security Force and the Rangers, as well the directors general of military operations, may at the least ensure that everybody is on the same page.As ever, progress in the India-Pakistan relationship depends on whether the political leadership is invested in it. Prime Minister Sharif clearly is, but has not demonstrated the ability to convince other institutions, particularly the army, of the imperative to improve ties. Meanwhile, Mr Modi has actually done the opposite of seeking to improve ties.It is important that the two stop the recent trend of mudslinging immediately if relations are to genuinely improve.
pk.shafaqna.com
