Pakistan hopes dialogue will resume, India cautious (Roundup)

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ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI/WASHINGTON - India’s offer of foreign secretary-level talks has predictably raised hopes in Islamabad about a revival of the composite dialogue, with its top leadership discussing the Indian proposal. The US, too, welcomed it, but a cautious New Delhi feels that it is premature to judge the outcome of the talks.

A day after it became public that India had taken a major step by proposing talks between the foreign secretaries, Pakistan Friday termed it a “positive development” and hoped that it will lead to the full resumption of the composite dialogue. Islamabad also sought clarifications on the agenda for discussions and reiterated that terrorism could not alone be the topic for the talks.

“Overall it is a positive development and we welcome it,” Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Abdul Basit told a private TV channel.

After the receipt of the Indian proposal, Pakistan had sought a clarification about the agenda and a reply is awaited, he said. As soon as India responds to this step, further progress would take place, he added.

Dates for the meeting are being discussed, sources in New Delhi said. Pakistani Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir is likely to come to New Delhi in the next few weeks, the source added.

Basit also said Pakistan sought a sustained and meaningful engagement with India, adding the two countries have a number of issues between them and terrorism was one of them. “If the Indians think so, it would not be an appropriate approach to restart the engagement,” he maintained.

Although New Delhi has made it clear it will carry on the foreign secretary-level discussions with an open and positive mind”, it has also indicated that the talks will focus on counter-terrorism and the action taken by Pakistan against the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai carnage. India had frozen the composite dialogue in the wake of the attacks that it blamed on elements operating from Pakistan.

However, the talks will not just be confined to terror; New Delhi is ready to accommodate Islamabad’s demands to discuss other issues as well, sources in New Delhi said.

It’s the first step to test the waters, the sources said. Any decision on resuming the composite dialogue will be taken by Prime Minister Manmohan Signh himself, the sources added. Much will also depend on Home Minister P. Chidambaram’s meetings with Pakistani leaders when he goes to attend the Feb 26-28 SAARC meting in Islamabad.

A positive assessment by India after the talks between foreign secretaries could set the stage for the meeting between their foreign ministers and prime ministers on the sidelines of the SAARC summit in Thimpu April 28-29.

Hours after the news broke about India’s offer, Pakistan’s top leadership met in Islamabad Thursday evening to discuss its position on the forthcoming talks.

Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani were present at the staggered meetings.

Zardari and Kayani first held a one-on-one meeting and Gilani joined them later. Zardari subsequently hosted a dinner that Qureshi also attended.

The meetings, at which issues relating to national security and the ongoing drive against extremism and militancy were also discussed, gained “added significance” as they “took place in the backdrop of the latest Indian offer of talks”, Dawn reported Friday.

Qureshi told TV channels that depending on the response to Pakistan’s queries from India, Islamabad would like an early resumption of talks.

“We would like to restart from where we left off,” he said, referring to the freezing of the composite dialogue process.

Pakistan has admitted that part of the Mumbai conspiracy was hatched in this country. The trial is also underway here of six operatives of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) for their alleged role in the attack, which India says was masterminded by the terror group’s founder, Hafiz Saeed.

The new sign of thaw between the two estranged neighbours was quickly welcomed by Washington, which has always batted for the resumption of dialogue as it feels it will allow the Pakistani military to concentrate on the war against the Taliban.

“We are supportive of dialogue among India, Pakistan and Afghanistan as a key component of moving ahead and achieving a stable region,” State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley told reporters in Washington Thursday.