New Delhi, March 6
The maiden meeting of the Indo-Pakistan joint mechanism on terrorism was held in Islamabad today and the two sides will continue the formal interaction tomorrow as well.
There was no word from either side on the outcome or lack of it, as both New Delhi and Islamabad have decided in principle to have these talks away from media arc lights in view of the extremely sensitive issues involved.
However, this correspondent understands that there was no forward movement, no breakthrough, no common positions. Not that the two arch rivals were expected to break the ice on such a thorny issue as terrorism at their first-ever institutionalised meeting of an unprecedented joint forum where the premier intelligence agencies of the two countries are represented.
On the plus side is this very fact that the intelligence brass of the two countries has shared a common negotiating table officially for the first time. New Delhi’s sense is that the two countries have begun this exercise, which some hardcore critics in the two countries may dub as a dialogue of the deaf, in the hope that common negotiation table may lead to a common position. This may or may not happen but it is worth an effort.
Coming to the specifics, what the three-member team from each side did today was to explore and understand each other. Specific issues did come up like the Attari special train blasts from the Pakistani perspective and Mumbai train blasts from the Indian point of view.
On Attari, Pakistan’s sense was that India was lead-footed and tight-lipped. On Mumbai, the Indians felt the same about Islamabad. On the issue of export of terror, the Indian side mouthed the familiar refrain that Islamabad had never turned off its tap of terrorism. The Pakistani side reiterated its denials.
