Futile brinkmanship leads nowhere

Pakistan’ futile brinkmanship on the eve of the proposed NSA-level talks on August 24 in New Delhi is only a symptom of the malady in our ties. External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj bluntly said on Saturday that the Pakistan NSA need not bother coming on Sunday if he insisted on meeting Hurriyat leaders here and taking the focus away from terrorism, as agreed in Ufa between the two PMs, to Kashmir.

The Narendra Modi government insists on the red lines it drew last August when it cancelled foreign secretary talks — that visiting Pakistani interlocutors will not be permitted to consult Kashmiri separatist leaders when government-to-government conversations are on the table. The separatists, in India’s eyes, have no locus standi.

So, it is up to Mr Aziz to engage with his Indian counterpart, Mr Ajit Doval, even if the separatists are separated from the menu. The Pakistan NSA may be expected to do some grandstanding on the Kashmir question and be loud about Pakistani allegations of Indian interference in Balochistan — a practical absurdity — in order to be in line with his military and extremist constituencies. We should be able to take that in our stride.

India has a strong narrative on Pakistan’s quarter-century-old proxy war in Kashmir, and the Americans and the Chinese well know that New Delhi will brook no external meddling on Kashmir. Pakistani vigour in stepping up terrorist attacks and cross-LoC shelling before the scheduled NSA talks, and its insistence so far on meeting the separatists before the NSAs dialogue, are hardly good signs. The best that can be said for now is that India-Pakistan relations are in the doldrums. The chances of the NSAs meeting are naturally fading fast.

India rightly maintains that it is keen on a peaceful relationship with Pakistan through “bilateral” talks on all matters. But Pakistan’s stance is very different. It has stopped referring to bilateralism though it is technically bound by it under the Simla Agreement and the Lahore Declaration. It has also once again begun appeals to the Organisation of Islamic Countries and the UN to pressure India on Kashmir.

This is a sterile course, and sets back ties. Islamabad has been emboldened with China lately promising it a nearly $50-billion investment in infrastructure, and the US recently urging India and Pakistan not to balk from NSA talks to sort out the “disputed” Kashmir question. Washington must be told where to get off. India-Pakistan relations can only advance on a bilateral trajectory and without the shadow of terrorism.