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| Collapse of Indo-Pak talks further weakens Omar Abdullah's position | | |
RUSTAM
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, July 17: The much-hyped India-Pakistan Foreign Minister-level diplomatic encounter in Islamabad on July 15 has ended in a failure. Not because Islamabad wanted the "bilateral" talks to collapse in the manner they collapsed, but because New Delhi put its foot down on issues of Kashmir, Siachen, water, deployment of Army in Kashmir, "human rights" situation in Kashmir, imposition of curfew in various parts of the Valley and security of the Indian Jammu and Kashmir.
Islamabad wanted New Delhi to "address its concerns" on all these issues", but New Delhi said: Nothing doing; Jammu and Kashmir was an integral part of India, and, hence, non-negotiable; deployment of Army in Kashmir and imposition of curfew there were the Indian matters Islamabad couldn't poke its dirty nose in; security of the Indian Jammu and Kashmir was the Indian responsibility and, hence, Islamabad had no right to make any comment in this regard; it is for India to deal with matters concerning the Indian Jammu and Kashmir in the manner they need to be dealt with; and what Islamabad was doing and demanding was a naked interference in the internal matters of India and, hence, not acceptable. New Delhi, in short, boldly refused to yield. It happened after years.
Not only this, New Delhi told Islamabad in unambiguous terms that if Pakistan wished to normalize and harmonize relations with India, it had no other option but to stop cross-border terrorism; dismantle the terrorist-related infrastructure wherever it exists on the soil of Pakistan and in the Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir; destroy the terror-producing factories (more than 40 in number located in various parts of Pakistan, including Lahore, Rawalpindi and Muridke); ban such terrorist organizations as Jamaat-ut-Dawa and Hizbul Mujahideen; rein in such dreaded terrorists as Hafiz Saeed and Syed Salahuddin; book and bring to justice those who masterminded and executed terrorist attacks in Mumbai on November 26, 2008; and stop hate-India campaign. Islamabad, New Delhi told, will have to take these steps to produce credible results on the ground to assuage the hurt feelings of the people of India.
It needs to be underlined that New Delhi this time exposed the complicity of Islamabad, including its dreaded Inter-Service Intelligence and Army, in what had been happening in India since decades with the help of clinching evidence, including the disclosures made by David Headley regarding the Pakistani involvment in the Mumbai terro attacks before the American intelligence agencies, particularly Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Islamabad had never expected that New Delhi would adopt an aggressive posture during the talks. But, much to its chagrin and surprise, it happened.
The story of the sophisticated, but firm and aggressive, stand New Delhi took in Islamabad did not end here. New Delhi not only very politely, but very firmly, silenced Islamabad on the issues of Kashmir, water, Siachen, human rights and so on saying Jammu and Kashmir was an integral part of India and Pakistan had no business there, but also called the Pakistani bluff on the issue of Baluchistan. The moment Islamabad raked up the issue of insurgency in Baluchistan and suggested the Indian involvement in the ongoing subversive activities in the restive Baluchistan, New Delhi asked Islamabad to substantiate the charge. Islamabad failed to substantiate the charge. It could not refer to even one incident that had been the handiwork of India.
In other words, New Delhi cornered Islamabad in Islamabad itself on each and every issue. As a result, the talks collapsed. That New Delhi didn't yield this time and that it was well-prepared to counter Islamabad on each and every issue had become quite evident in the evening of July 15, when the Indian and Pakistani Foreign Ministers addressed press conference. The body language of Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi left none in any doubt that he had utterly failed to carry any conviction and that it was his Indian counterpart S M Krishna who had reign supreme during the over six-hour long talks. The uncouth Qureshi used the opportunity to express his displeasure with his Indian counterpart by joining issues, as also by using rough and crude language. It was clear there and then that the talks had failed. It is a different matter that the press in Jammu and Kashmir interpreted the talks otherwise.
What happened in Islamabad on July 15 and a day later, when Shah Mahmood Qureshi threw to the wind all diplomatic nuances and leveled very serious charges against S M Krishna and Indian Home Secretary G K Pillai, must have kept Chief Minister Omar Abdullah awake in the night. For, he was expecting that the outcome of Indo-Pak talks would help him restore peace in the troubled-Kashmir. He was expecting some "positive outcome" (read Kashmir-centric) because the all-party meeting that he convened on July 12 at Srinagar had very strongly urged New Delhi to hasten the peace process so that the Kashmir issue could be resolved to the satisfaction of the so-called alienated people of Kashmir. It has not happened. Instead, Islamabad has closed all its doors for the time being and New Delhi has made its intentions clear that it shall not compromise its position on Jammu and Kashmir and other issues of national import. The failure of the talks could also be construed as a major snub to the likes of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Mehbooba Mufti, the Mirwaiz, Yasin Malik, Shabir Ahmad Shah and others of their ilk, who have been consistently asking New Delhi to hasten the peace process and resolve the so-called Kashmir issue. It would be better for the Kashmiri leaders, both "mainstream" and separatist to see writing on the wall. They should abandon the path of separatism, autonomy and self-rule. Instead, they should join the national mainstream. They have no other option.
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