Ignore Pak sabre-rattling, focus on peace says J N Dixit
India should remain firm in its commitment
to peace and normalisation, negative activities and statements from
Pakistan notwithstanding, according to former foreign secretary
J N Dixit.
''It is for Pakistan to decide how long it can ensure its
stability and development with an adversary relationship with
India,'' Dixit, who also served as a former Indian high commissioner to
Pakistan, said.
Pointing out that this was both a ''practical and logical''
approach to deal with the present predicament in Indo-Pak
relations, he cautioned that India must remain alert about
Pakistan's attempts to weaken or fragment it.''
Providing ''an overview of Indo-Pak relations,'' Dixit says: ''In
the long run the elemental fact of geography cannot be wished away.
Even if it takes time and even if there are negative activities and
statements from Pakistan, india's commitment to peace and
normalisation should remain firm.''
Dixit's observations assume additional significance as they
come on the eve of the resumption of the stalled foreign
secretary-level talks between the two countries in New Delhi.
Pakistan Foreign Secretary Shamshad Ahmed will arrive
on March 27 for talks with his Indian
counterpart Salman Haider.
The foreign secretary talks will prepare the groundwork
for the foreign ministers's encounter on April 7
during the NonAligned Movement ministerial meeting. External
Affairs Minister Inder Kumar Gujral and his Pakistani counterpart Gohar
Ayub Khan are expected to discuss the entire gamut of bilateral
relations at their meeting.
For the present, Dixit says the inevitable choice is that India should
remain firm in maintaining its cohesion, unity and territorial
integrity while managing the adversary relationship in a rational
manner to the extent possible, ensuring that Pakistan does not
cross the threshold which might lead to war.
The former foreign secretary has rejected:
decisive and controlled military action against Pakistan
reacting with a reprisal mindset initiating subversive
activities against Pakistan of the type which it has been indulging
in against India and
accepting Pakistan's demands on Kashmir and other issues, as
the approaches to be adopted vis-a-vis Pakistan.
Dixit also notes that there were subordinate strains of
suggestions like amending the Constitution, abolishing the
special status of Kashmir, changing the demography of Kashmir, and
so on.
He says, to the world at large, after the experiences in Bosnia
and Somalia, drastic and violence-tinged solutions would not be
acceptable nor would they conform to the basic principles of
India's foreign policy or its political and developmental
interests.
Dixit also notes that important Western powers by their
policies based on their own interest have affected Indo-Pak
relations adversely. The sub-continent, specially the Indian part,
puzzles the West.
Meanwhile, the two foreign secretaries will have talks lasting four days,
in a changed political atmosphere in both countries. Expectations
are high among people on both sides of the border that the dialogue
will lead to normalisation of relations between the two neighbours.
It was in January 1994 that the foreign secretaries of the two
countries met last. Since then, there have been no official
level talks between the two countries with tension mounting between
them on a number of issues.
The resumption of talks comes close on the heels of this week's
extraordinary summit of the Organisation of Islamic
Conference in Islamabad and Prime Minister H D
Deve Gowda's visit to Russia.
At the OIC summit, Pakistan President Farooq Leghari
promised his country's support to the Kashmiri separatists.
The OIC also passed a resolution,
condemning India and appreciating
Pakistan's efforts to resolve the Kashmir issue.
Though the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress
have reacted sharply to Leghari's remarks, coming as they do on the eve of the
Indo-Pak dialogue, New Delhi has officially chosen to ignore
the statement and the OIC resolution.
Deve Gowda, who is at present in Moscow, has
secured a categorical assurance from Russian President Boris Yeltsin that
his country would not supply arms to Pakistan.
While Pakistan has been insisting that the foreign secretary-
level talks should cover all issues, including what it calls the
core issue of Kashmir,
India feels that differences on one single
issue should not be allowed to come in the way of normalisation of
relations.
Indian diplomats are of the view that there is a tremendous
scope for co-operation between the two countries in the field of
trade and culture.
The Indian viewpoint is that it would be in the interest of both
India and Pakistan not to get bogged down on the Kashmir issue and
try to make progress in other areas.
The foreign secretary talks are being resumed just about
two months after Sharief came to power in Pakistan with a
landslide victory. The Pakistani premier, during his election
rallies, promised to make efforts to improve relations with India.
Pakistani watchers believe the new Pak government's policy
on India appears to be more pragmatic and cohesive compared to
the one pursued by former prime minister Benazir Bhutto when
relations between the two countries touched their lowest ebb.
In the past few days, both India and Pakistan have made some
friendly gestures in order to create a congenial atmosphere for the
talks.
Pakistan released 38 Indian children who were detained
in Karachi for three years for straying in Pak waters while fishing.
India, on its part, announced unilateral concessions
to Pakistan in visa-related matters in keeping with New Delhi's policy of
encouraging people-to-people contact.
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