Seriousness of dialogue

Too many expectations need not be entertained from of the forthcoming meeting between the National Security Advisors of India and Pakistan in New Delhi. In the first place, the dialogue is merely a process, not an outcome. We don't even know if the dialogue will result in any concrete result. Moreover, we have seen many such engagements in the past, even at higher levels, that have come to naught, primarily because Pakistan always kept going back to its bad old ways after making saintly statements.

The latest meeting of the NSAs, scheduled for August 23, comes in the backdrop of Islamabad's U-turn on a joint statement that had been adopted by the two countries in Ufa, Russia, that promised, among other things, providing voice samples of individuals suspected of terror activities. But within hours, the Pakistani establishment went back on that commitment by saying that it could not obtain and send to India the voice samples of 26/11 mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman lakhvi. Sections of the Pakistani establishment also sought to dismiss the joint statement — incidentally approved by the Prime Ministers of the two countries — on the ground that it did not mention the Kashmir issue. There needs to be forward movement on the Ufa promise. But this is the not the only issue that the two NSAs will have on the table when they meet. The recent terror attacks in Gurdaspur in Punjab and Udhampur in Jammu & Kashmir, where the role of Pakistan-based elements has become more than clear, too will be raised. India has reportedly prepared a comprehensive dossier detailing the attacks. It remains to be seen whether the Pakistani NSA Sartaj Aziz will deny it all to his Indian counterpart, Ajit Doval, or take it seriously. The two NSAs also have to address the issue of constant violations of the ceasefire agreement along the line of Control and the International Border. 

Previous experience suggests that Islamabad will continue to be in denial until all its lies run out and it is exposed. This had happened in the 26/11 case, when Pakistan simply washed its hands of all the terrorists, including Ajmal Kasab, who had attacked Mumbai. Only later, when the evidence was out — and which Pakistan knew all along — that it accepted the reality. But even there it rejected the accusation that state actors had provided support to the terrorists. In the Udhampur incident too, Pakistan has flatly denied that the suspected terrorist Mohammad Naveed, captured by the Indian forces, is a Pakistani national. Unfortunately for Islamabad and Naveed's handlers, India has enough material to demolish that lie. The moot point is: Will Pakistan (the Government or the Army or the Inter-Services Intelligence — it doesn’t matter) give up its policy that seeks to bleed India with a thousand cutsIJ The process of dialogue between the two countries is welcome, and there must be more of them. But they must lead to some meaningful purpose.