Posts Tagged ‘Sharm el Sheikh’
K.P. Nayar takes us inside India-Pakistan Statement at Shar-el Sheikh
K.P. Nayar’s excellent piece takes us inside the Sharm-el Sheikh Statement.
For those who missed out on what Sharm-el Sheikh was, though it seems improbable to do so, here is brief backgrounder: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Yousaf Gilani met at the sidelines of the NAM Summit at Sahrm-el Sheikh last month and issued a Joint Statement. Both leaders affirmed their resolve to fight terrorism and co-operate with each other in the Joint Statement issued at Sharm el Sheikh. There was also agreement to share real-time, credible and actionable information on any future terrorist threat. The Joint Statement further added that “action on terror should not be linked to the composite dialogue process and these should not be bracketed” and that “terrorism is the main threat to both countries.” India also sought to address Pakistan’s anxieties on Baluchistan by emphasizing non-involvement in the internal disturbances.
Here is how the Government of India conducted itself in the first major bilateral interaction after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. The following piece appeared in the August 25th edition of The Telegraph.
A typical conversation with an Indian ambassador, or any Indian diplomat for that matter, in the last five weeks began with the diplomat asking in obvious disbelief: “How did this happen?”
The “this” in the question is a reference to the Sharm-el-Sheikh joint statement of July 16, which put it on record that Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani “mentioned” to Manmohan Singh “that Pakistan has some information on threats in Balochistan and other areas”. The implication was that the threats came from India in the form of cross-border terrorism. Click to continue…
India-Pakistan Peace Process: Dialogue to Nowhere
If someone asked me to describe a circular motion, the course of Indo-Pak peace process would instantly come to mind. Most analysis on India-Pakistan through this week had referred to the resumption of peace talks; I would refer to it as the resumption of the ‘dialogue ritual’. Unlike most Indians and Pakistanis, I neither support nor condemn the recent efforts at resuming the dialogue between India and Pakistan. Meaningful dialogue is meant to be progressive rather than repetitive. More than five years after the Composite Dialogue was initiated between India and Pakistan, the two sides are still undecided about what and how to discuss. Though both sides claim to be open to dialogue, every item on the list is tied to fulfillment of preconditions. Dialogue is about these preconditions rather than the real issues. Sharm el Sheikh is merely another addition to list rather than a major breakthrough. Click to continue…