New Delhi has suggested August 23–24 as proposed dates for a meeting in New Delhi between Pakistan’s National Security Adviser Sartaj Aziz and his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval. Pakistan has so far not confirmed any dates for the NSA-level meeting, but Foreign Office is expected to formally reply to the Indian proposal by the second week of August. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s (SCO) meeting on July 10 in Ufa where both sides agreed to have a series of meetings including one between the national security advisers to discuss all issues related to terrorism. On Saturday, Pakistan said that it is monitoring the situation on the Line of Control and Working Boundary as well as assessing provocative statements from New Delhi in the wake of the Gurdaspur terrorist attack, and will decide in a few days whether to accept the dates proposed by Delhi.After all, subsequent to the Gurdaspur attack, there was a sense that the Ufa joint statement may be jettisoned and India and Pakistan would resume their war of words. Happily, better sense prevailed and both sides have avoided any serious verbal attacks at the highest political and security levels over Gurdaspur or the wider terrorism issue.Yet, that is also a measure of how low the expectations have fallen: simply avoiding a war of words in the days after a terrorist incident is surely not a stable way of carrying forward the bilateral relationship. More is needed and it could start with the National Security Advisers’ meeting. Yet, with the NSA meeting too there multiple concerns. As reported in this newspaper yesterday, there have been rumblings within the Pakistani state that the Ufa format, wherein the NSAs are to discuss all issues connected to terrorism, has put Pakistan at some kind of disadvantage.Presumably, that implies disagreements between the political government and the security establishment or the lack of proper groundwork done for Ufa in the absence of a full-time foreign minister. It hardly bodes well for seeking a breakthrough with a hawkish Indian government if the Pakistani stance is not the product of a consensus to begin with. But that is only the first hurdle.What the bilateral relationship also needs is sustained interest and input from the top political leadership. Ufa put security front and centre, with meetings scheduled between the NSAs, the DGs of the Pakistan Rangers and the Indian BSF and two countries’ DG Military Operations. What, though, of the political component? Meetings between the two prime ministers in third countries on the sidelines of other summits are not enough. The civilian component needs to be ramped up. Could part of the problem be the absence of a full-time foreign minister here?
pk.shafaqna.com
Security adviser’s meeting: The better sense prevails
