Opinion Dr Singh’s next move in Kashmir
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh did not make any new,let alone bold,announcements on domestic or foreign policies.
In his press conference on Monday,Prime Minister Manmohan Singh did not make any new,let alone bold,announcements on domestic or foreign policies. Nevertheless Dr Singhs quiet but strong commtiment to the peace process with Pakitan has come through.
A major effort is being made to bridge the trust deficit with Pakistan, Dr Singh declared at his rare news conference in Delhi,only the second in his six years of tenure as the Prime Minister. I’m hopeful this process can move forward, he added.
Can Dr Singh succeed in re-engineering the relationship with Pakistan in his second term much in the manner he transformed the ties with the United States in the first?
During the first term of the UPA government (2004-09),the PM courted widespread domestic controversy in his effort to build a new partnership with the United States. Dr Singh had put all his political capital on line to ensure Parliaments approval for the historic civil nuclear initiative.
Less noticed during the first term was an even bolder agenda that Dr Singh pursued with Pakistan. This involved back channel negotiations with President Pervez Musharraf on a framework for the resolution of the Kashmir dispute and the full normalisation of bilateral relations.
Not surprisingly,the PMs diplomatic approaches to the US and Pakistan were very different. In the case of the nuclear initiative,the PM had to conduct the negotiations with the United States in public. Every word and detail of the negotiation was under scrutiny,mostly hostile,of the press and Parliament,given the deep and accumulated suspicions of Washington in the Indian political class.
The talks with Pakistan were far more sensitive; for they involved explosive territorial questions on Jammu and Kashmir. They had to be conducted in great secrecy,for any public discussion could have killed the peace project before it got anywhere.
It is only in the last few weeks and months that some details on the negotiations have come out — from Pakistan. The untold story is that much progress was apparently made in these negotiations,but could not be clinched as Musharrafs power began to ebb from early 2007.
Having invested so much in the peace process,Dr Singh wants to give it another shot in the second term. But the revival of the engagement with Pakistan has become a lot more difficult given the terror outrage in Mumbai in November 2008.
A persistent Dr Singh has nearly brought the peace process back on the rails at his meeting with the Pakistani premier Yusuf Raza Gilani last month in Thimphu. If Pakistan can give him some satisfaction on punishing those guilty of plotting the Mumbai attacks,Dr Singh should be able to quickly ramp up the engagement with Pakistan.
As he waits for Pakistan to act,Dr Singh will have a chance to move forward on the internal track of the peace process when he visits J&K early next month. With Congress president Sonia Gandhi expected to visit the state a few days before the PM,the stage is probably set for a major political initiative on Kashmir.
Share
