Pakistan is abuzz with rumours that the country's all-powerful military may topple the fragile government in Islamabad within next 48 hours.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi would co-chair the first US-Pak Strategic Dialogue to be held in Washington on March 24.
"How can you have a strategic dialogue without including the military," Special US Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke told reporters at the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department.
Pakistan on Saturday did an about turn on sending the Inter-Services Intelligence chief to India, in connection with the probe into the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, saying a representative of the spy agency would be sent instead of him.The decision was made at a late night meeting between President Asif Ali Zardari and General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the chief of the powerful army. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani also joined the meeting.
These are obviously not 'organic' desertions but brought about under intense military pressure, post the 9/5 arrests. It seemed as if the party was being dismantled the same way it was brought into power!, notes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W, India's external intelligence agency.
The question really is whether the US can be persuaded to embark on a path of calibrated and stronger sanctions on Pakistan.
'Over the last year, Bajwa has created the environment to support bold moves on India. The ball is in India's court,' a senior Pakistan military officer tells Ajai Shukla.
'We will have to wait till the snows melt in June/July 2016 before we can get a clearer idea of whether Pakistan intends to get serious about ending support for cross-border terrorism,' says G Parthasarathy, India's former high commissioner to Pakistan.
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