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Address terror first: India to Pak

Address terror first: India to Pak

Author: Our Political Bureau
Publication: The Economic Times
Date: September 9, 2006
URL: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1973124,prtpage-1.cms

The resumption of the Indo-Pak peace talks will depend on the outcome of the bilateral meeting between PM Manmohan Singh and Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf at the Non Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Havana next week. Foreign secretary Shyam Saran said if the results were satisfactory, and Pakistan is willing to work with India "to deal with what Pakistan itself says is a shared threat of terrorism" then a date would be set for the Indo-Pak foreign secretary level talks, which were put off after the Mumbai blasts.

He, however, added that unless the issue of terrorism is addressed in a ""substantive way" by Pakistan , it would be difficult to ensure the success of the dialogue process. Mr Saran, who was briefing reporters on the PM's nine-day trip for the NAM and IBSA summit starting on Sunday, said that if it is a shared threat then India and Pakistan should be working together to eliminate it.

Saying he did not want to pre-judge the outcome of the talks, he said that both leaders were conscious of Indo-Pak relations and of taking the peace process forward. On whether the Malegaon blasts would have any impact on the talks, he said, "I don't know, it will depend on investigations." On the 9/11 anniversary, Mr Saran said there is a wide terror network and that countries needed to work with each other to eliminate the threat.

Apart from the foreign secretary level talks, meetings of working groups and joint commissions and technical-level talks have been going on as per schedule. The meeting between Mr Singh and Gen Musharraf is likely to take place either on September 15 or 16. India has been saying that it will resume the stalled peace talks only after Pakistan takes action against cross-border terrorism. But there has been a perceptible softening of stance on the issue. Yesterday, the Left parties had said that India should resume dialogue with Pakistan and restart the peace process, thereby giving the PM some political support to engage Pakistan. The Prime Minister had also said yesterday that New Delhi is ready to address outstanding issues with Islamabad and that confidence-building measures (CBMs) were making progress.

The ministerial meeting takes place on September 13 and 14 while the summit takes place on September 15 and 16. There is also a plenary debate entitled the "Purpose, Principle and Role of NAM in the Present International Order. " India wants to bring disarmament to the top of the NAM agenda and wants the body to portray a more contemporary vision. Mr Saran said India wanted NAM to play a bridging role as it is a grouping that encompasses all religions. "People have been talking of the clash of civilisation and confrontation with Islam... what we should be talking about is the confluence of civilisations," Mr Saran said, adding that NAM could bring about such a confluence. Other issues that India would like NAM to focus on are the threat of terrorism and the issue of global disarmament . UN reforms, regional issues, the Afghanistan crisis and developments in West Asia and economic and social issues are some of the other items that will be discussed.


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