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.
