New Delhi, February 21
The glass was both half full and half empty for India-Pakistan relations as the two countries’ foreign ministers today concluded their bilateral talks under the shadow of Samjhauta Express blasts.
It was half empty because India rejected Islamabad’s demand for joint investigations into the February 18 train blasts near Panipat, a day after Pakistan’s National Assembly passed a resolution articulating this demand.
It was half full because the two foreign ministers reiterated their commitment to stay the course on peace talks. Another bright side of Pranab Mukherjee-Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri talks was that the two countries signed an agreement on “reducing the risk from accidents relating to nuclear weapons”. The agreement, signed by additional secretary-level officials in the presence of the two foreign ministers, comes into force with immediate effect. Though it was known before hand that the agreement would be signed, the development is important because it first came up for discussion between the then prime ministers, I.K. Gujral and Nawaz Sharif in 1997.
The Pakistani side was upset by the Indian government’s stand, articulated publicly by Mr Mukherjee at his joint press conference with Mr Kasuri at Hyderabad House. Mr Mukherjee, however, assured his Pakistani counterpart that India would share investigation results with Pakistan.
While New Delhi appreciates exemplary restraint shown by Pakistani leadership, barring a few discordant voices like those of railway minister Sheikh Rashid, Islamabad’s demand for joint investigations is viewed here with suspicion. New Delhi’s sense is that a country which harbours “global terrorist” Dawood Ibrhaim, which Islamabad has constantly denied, and Kashmir terrorists Syed Salahuddin and Hafeez Mohammed Sayeed, cannot expect to be roped in for joint investigations into a terror incident in India.
The two foreign ministers first met under a restricted format for about 40 minutes, followed by half an hour-long one-to-one talks, which were quite
candid.
This was followed by delegation-level talks for the fifth India-Pakistan joint commission. The talks went on for about two and a half hours.
Mr Kasuri curtailed his India visit by a day as he cancelled his Agra tour, scheduled for tomorrow. He would now be leaving for Islamabad tomorrow night by his special plane after attending a dinner being hosted in his honour tomorrow, Pakistan’s foreign office spokeswoman Tasneem Aslam told The Tribune.
Significantly, there was no joint statement after the talks. Ms Aslam said respective heads of the eight sub-groups of the Indo-Pak joint commission signed minutes in the presence of the two foreign ministers.
At the joint press conference, Mr Mukherjee expressed satisfaction that the joint survey of Sir Creek was progressing smoothly and that Thar Express resumed service on February 17. “We hope that the meeting of the joint anti-terror mechanism in Islamabad on March 6 will be meaningful and the fourth round of the composite dialogue to be launched by the foreign secretaries in Islamabad on March 13-14 will promote bilateral relations further”.
Mr Mukherjee also handed over to Mr Kasuri a list of the relatives of Indian prisoners of war who would like to visit Pakistan in April 2007. “You would recall that Pakistan had agreed to receive them during my visit to Islamabad last month,” he told Mr Kasuri.
Mr Kasuri said the two countries had agreed to set up a judicial commission comprising of retired high court judges for the welfare of prisoners in each other’s jails. He added that Pakistan had already given a list of four retired judges to the Indian side and expressed confidence that the commission would be set up soon.
