Memories and dreams

When the holy month of Ramadan began on 21 August, Pakistan's foreign secretary, Salman Bashir, was still waiting for a communication from Nirupama Rao, his newly ensconced counterpart in New Delhi, confirming acceptance of invitations to the Iftar parties in Islamabad. Earlier, Manmohan Singh and Yusuf Raza Gilani had agreed at Sharm-el-Sheikh in Egypt that the two foreign secretaries would meet without much delay, and do the groundwork for a ministerial level dialogue to be held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York in September. But ingrained suspicions, like old habits, die hard. The political opinion in India and Pakistan does not allow either party to take the initiative and set the ball rolling again towards rapprochement.

Once back from the Non-Aligned Summit, Prime Minister Singh was lambasted in India for appearing accommodative towards Pakistan, with the reference to Balochistan in the joint statement, which is supposed to have been a concession to Islamabad. He had to assure Indian parliamentarians, saying that the resumption of the composite dialogue with Pakistan required a more conducive atmosphere. The future of Indo-Pak peace talks – suspended in the wake of terror attacks on high-visibility targets in Bombay last November – hangs in the balance as both sides dither over venue, date and agenda. And this is only for the preparatory meeting between the foreign secretaries.