No initiative with Pakistan

New Delhi: There is unlikely to be any major peace initiative by the Central government towards Pakistan in the remaining few months of the NDA government’s current tenure, but New Delhi does not want to scale down its diplomatic presence in Pakistan, top sources said on Thursday. 

Sources also described the move by the Centre to build a corridor on the Indian side for Sikh pilgrims wanting to visit the historic Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara just across the border in Pakistan’s Punjab as a “cultural and not diplomatic initiative”. 

Sources said that “this does not mean that we (India) are going to open an initiative on larger issues (with Pakistan)”.

New Delhi’s stand has been that “talks and terror cannot go together”, a reference to Pakistani support for terrorist groups that target India and operate from Pakistani territory or territory controlled by it. Sources also said that even after Imran Khan assumed office as PM, there has been no change in the Pakistani stand of support to cross-border terrorism. Any call on resumption of a comprehensive dialogue from the Indian side between India and Pakistan is likely to be taken therefore only after the general election. But even then observers feel that New Delhi will find it difficult to participate in such a dialogue unless there is some tangible change in the Pakistani establishment’s approach towards terrorism aimed at India.

Meanwhile, India is carefully watching and reviewing the situation in the neighbourhood following the recent US announcement to withdraw a few thousand American troops from Afghanistan. New Delhi is carefully watching attempts by the US now to engage with the Pakistan-backed Taliban but sources said India was very clear that its policy remains that it (India) will not engage with the Taliban.