Is ‘trust deficit’ the real issue between India and Pakistan?

Almost twelve hours after P.M. Manmohan Singh addressed a ‘rare’ press conference in New Delhi, I felt uneasy on reading the headline of the WSJ article, “Singh Seeks To Fix Pakistan ‘Trust Deficit.’” My first reaction was that WSJ had got it wrong. I logged on to the website of the Prime Minister’s Office to read the transcript of P.M. Singh’s press conference. Surprisingly, the P.M.’s responses to all questions relating to Pakistan did give an impression that the onus for improving bilateral relations was on India.

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P.M. Singh recognized that the composite dialogue has not moved forward since the Mumbai attacks. But in his words the “underlying cause” for this was the “lack of adequate amount of trust between our two countries.” Does this mean that India has not trusted Pakistan enough? I had thought that the underlying cause was Pakistan’s support of terrorism against India.

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The P.M. was explicitly asked about why he believed that he would succeed in building a relationship based on trust with Pakistan?
The reply, in his words, was “Well, I can’t say that I know the answer. It is our obligation to make every effort to normalize relations with India’s neighbors. That is essential, I have always believed, to realize the development potential of our country. We will make every effort; whether we succeed or not, that only the future can tell.” This sounded more like the concept of ‘swadharma’ (doing one’s duty) rather than enunciation of India’s bilateral diplomacy.

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In another attempt to push the P.M., a journalist asked him to mention the specific milestones Pakistan should fulfill to reduce the trust deficit. This question was coupled with the issue of David Headley. The P.M. simply responded to the issue of Headley, ignoring the reference to Pakistan.

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I was amazed to realize the extent to which India’s progress was projected to be dependent on ‘good’ relations with Pakistan. Given the closely connected financial and technological destinies of contemporary states, regional and global realities do impact on national development. But it is difficult to accept P.M. Singh’s over-deterministic assessment of Pakistan’s influence on India’s development. According to P.M. Singh, India cannot realize its full development potential unless “we have the best possible relations with our neighbors and Pakistan happens to the largest neighbor of ours.”

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P.M. Singh did mention that India was willing to discuss all outstanding issues with Pakistan on the condition that Pakistan’s territory should not used for spreading terrorism against India. But given the lack of a roadmap, both in event of Pakistan’s compliance or non-compliance to India’s condition, it is evident that this was convenient rhetoric by the Government in power rather than enunciation of India’s ‘Pakistan’ policy.