Indo-Pakistan ties show improving trend

As positive fallout of the 17th SAARC summit in the Maldives, the two South Asian arch rivals - India and Pakistan - are showing encouraging signs of breaking out of the undesirable cycle of bitter ties and both the countries look upbeat about a better future. The bilateral meeting between the heads of the two governments - albeit informal on the sidelines of the summit - proved quite productive and the utterances coming from New Delhi and Islamabad are largely devoid of the animosity that normally characterise the nature of the bilateral relations. Indeed, this is a good sign and augurs well for better ties between the two key players of the south Asian spectrum. It goes without saying that much of the progress and development in the region is contingent upon a congenial political environment in the area and for this, a cooperative Indo-Pakistan relation is undoubtedly essential. Incidentally, and rather unfortunately, this much-needed atmosphere is lacking between the two neighbours even though the occasional glimmer of hope of reasonably good relationship improves the overall political climate in the south Asia. The very fact that the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) has been unable to stage the expected number of summits in twenty-six years of its existence is certainly a negative aspect of the eight-nation forum which is mandated by its charter to hold annual gathering of its leaders. Needless to say that seventeen summits in twenty six years reflects the inability of the forum to hold regular annual summits and this failure stems largely from political problems between rivals India and Pakistan. However, relations among other smaller nations have also contributed to this unhealthy situation and it is heartening to see that the SAARC is of late coming out of the mess. The bilateral political problems are not affecting the grouping any more in the manner that they did previously. Unquestionably, it is a positive indication that SAARC will be more effective in the future since one of its main obstacles that hinder the progress seem to be taking a backseat in recent times. The contentious bilateral problems are barred from discussions in the SAARC ambit and the founder fathers of the forum did it rightly demonstrating their acumen and sagacity. It is a matter of common knowledge that almost all the neighbours of the region have bilateral irritants at varying degrees owing to various issues and this is the typical scenario of the South Asian region. Of course, the often-strained ties between the two nuclear armed neighbours India and Pakistan are the focus of this atmosphere that is not conducive for regional development. While bilateral matters are strictly prohibited in the official deliberations of the SAARC, the harsh truth is that such problems exist among the member states. As such, when the leaders meet informally during the summit, these contacts at the highest level, cast a sobering effect on the overall South Asian ambience. It goes without saying that better relations among the eight members are in a way a pre-requisite for progress of the S1outh Asian regional forum, which have definitely suffered from absence of this element. During the recent summit in Addu in the Maldives, attending leaders met their counterparts mainly on courtesy calls and these contacts delivered useful results in most of the cases. For instance, Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh's meeting with his Pakistan opposite number Yusuf Raja Gilani or between Dr Singh and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina went off fairly well as they also discussed some vexed bilateral issues, taking the advantage of the occasion. Obviously, the Indo-Pakistan meeting was the attraction of all eyes because of the complex nature of their ties and for the media that event stole the show. No wonder that any meeting between the two hostile countries - even if in the field of sports like cricket - lends extra interest. The Indian prime minister while returning from Maldives told the media of his country that New Delhi is expecting better ties with Pakistan in the coming days. He mentioned his talks with Gilani, whom he described as working for bilateral peace. However, Dr Singh had a word of caution when he said any "Mumbai" type attack on the Indian soil would be a "big setback". He was referring to the attack in India's commercial hub by terrorists coming from Pakistani soil three years ago. The Pakistan premier also spoke in positive terms about the talks with the Indian prime minister and vowed to work for peace despite many limitations. The remarks that are pouring from two capitals are also encouraging. However, any downslide in the Indo-Pakistan relations is possible centring any incident. Nevertheless, one can look forward to better ties between them although much cannot be expected because of several bones of contention that exist between them. zaglulbss@yahoo.com