India, Pakistan inch tentatively toward normalization of relations

Home>>Opinion

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, December 20, 2003

India, Pakistan inch tentatively toward normalization of relations

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

India and Pakistan have taken a "step by step" approach and moved tentatively toward normalization of their relations in the past year, which has resulted in resumption of ambassadorial ties, restoration of land links and agreement to reopen their skies early next year to each other's aviation airlines.

The two nuclear rivals that have fought three major wars since their partition in 1947 avoided another large-scale war after the terrorist attack on the Indian parliament in December 2001. New Delhi accused Pakistan of being involved in the attack, which was categorically denied by Islamabad.

The two neighbors later downgraded their diplomatic ties from an ambassadorial level to the level of charge d'affaires and discontinued their land and air links as well as trade ties. About1 million troops from both sides were mobilized and rushed to their common border, where they stayed eyeball to eyeball and were ready to fight each other. The Pak-Indo relations reached and remained at a historical low.

After the US-led coalition forces launched a pre-emptive strike in March to topple Iraq's Saddam regime, India tried to follow suit and threatened to launch a pre-emptive war against Pakistan. Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha in an interview with the Hindustan Times on April 3 said India had a much better case to gofor a pre-emptive action against Pakistan than the United States had in Iraq, an argument echoed and endorsed by Defense Minister George Fernandes.

In tit-for-tat rhetoric, the Pakistani leadership warned India of grave consequences if it embarked on any "misadventure" and said there should be no "misunderstanding" on the part of India about Pakistan's capability to defend itself. The United States also asked India not to draw parallels between the Iraq and Kashmir situations and "to restrain itself from using the US-led pre-emptive war against Iraq as a pretext for an attack on Pakistan."

Things changed after India received the clear signal sent from the United States. Apparently to ward off pressure and avoid interference in the Kashmiri affairs by the world powers, Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee offered Pakistan talks surprisingly on April 18. "We are willing to discuss all issues including Jammu and Kashmir," Vajpayee said, stressing that his country wanted friendly relations with its western neighbor.

Pakistani Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali did not hesitate to take Vajpayee's "hand of friendship." He called Vajpayee personally on April 28 to invite him to visit Islamabad. The peace ball began rolling and the two neighbors' 17-month long impasse came to an end.

The following months saw hectic interaction between New Delhi and Islamabad. Vajpayee, who held two failed summits with Pakistani leaders in Lahore in 1999 and Agra in 2001, promised to try a last-time one for peace in his lifetime, raising hopes on both sides of a breakthrough. "The third attempt will be decisive and will be the last in my lifetime," said the 78-year-old Indian leader. Jamali on May 6 announced several confidence-building measures including restoration of air and land links, full diplomatic ties and sports linkage between India and Pakistan.

The two sides resumed their ambassadorial ties and restored the Delhi-Lahore bus service in July, but their pace to normalize relations was slower than expected. They failed to restore their air links and trade ties, not to mention to restart the long-awaited dialogue on all their outstanding issues including Kashmir.

To seek a breakthrough in improving ties and restarting the dialogue with India as soon as possible, Pakistan took the initiative in late November to announce a ceasefire in the disputed Kashmir and abandoned it's pre-condition that India should guarantee not to snap the air links unilaterally if it wanted to resume them. These moves no doubt have helped the peace process in South Asia gain momentum and improved the atmosphere for holding the 12th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) slated for early next month in Islamabad.

India responded quickly and positively to Pakistan's ceasefire proposal. The historic truce came into effect on Nov. 26, marking the first time since an Islamic insurgency began in 1989 that cross-border exchanges of artillery have halted in the region. The on-going ceasefire covers the 230-kilometer non-disputed section of the international border in Kashmir, the disputed 760-kilometerLine of Control and the line of actual contact in the northern Siachen Glacier, the world's highest battlefield. The two sides also agreed to resume their air links from the beginning of 2004.

Hostility was greatly reduced and the tension obviously eased in the wake of the ceasefire. Vajpayee made it clear that he would come to Islamabad to attend the coming SAARC summit, which was originally scheduled for early this year but had to be put off after India said it could not attend. The leaders of both sides even began talking about meeting each other on the sidelines of the regional summit. Some people encouraged by the recent developments expect the restart of the long-awaited dialogue between the two neighbors for solving all their disputes.

Analysts here are cautiously optimistic about the Pak-Indo relations, saying India and Pakistan still have a long way to go to resume their comprehensive relations to the level before the terrorist attack on the Indian parliament two years ago. They believe it is even harder for the two sides to reach a consensus on a dialogue process. Fahmida Ashraf, a well-known expert of the Islamabad-based Institute of Strategic Studies, said that to normalize relations is one thing and to restart the dialogue is quite another.

However, considering the improvement of relations between China and India in the past months as well as the surrounding circumstances and the changing world situation Pakistan faces, the possibility for Islamabad to make an important policy shift toward Kashmir can not be completely ruled out.

Musharraf, in an interview with Reuters on Dec. 17, hinted that Pakistan is ready to drop its long-standing demands for the implementation of the UN resolutions over Kashmir and to meet India "halfway" for peace. "We are for the United Nations Security Council resolutions. However, now we have left that aside," he said, adding "if we want to resolve this issue, both sides need to talk to each other with flexibility, coming beyond stated positions, meeting halfway somewhere." But a Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman said Musharraf's remarks were misquoted.

If the media report is correct, this can be the first time that a Pakistani leader has said precisely Islamabad has left aside the UN resolutions on Kashmir. This may mean India and Pakistan can make a breakthrough in their relations, especially in resolving the Kashmir dispute, in the future with their leaders' strong political will to make peace.

Questions?Comments? Click here

India, Pakistan to resume rail services

Indo-Pak rail link talks to start in Delhi on Dec. 18

China opposes foreign interference on HK affairs: Official ( 54 Messages)

China seeks int'l support in counter-terrorism ( 12 Messages)

Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein arrested ( 101 Messages)

Nanjing Massacre remembered ( 54 Messages)

Abandoned Chinese babies find love from foreign parents ( 3 Messages)