Islamabad, June 22: A proposal to make the joint anti-terror mechanism a part of India-Pakistan talks is likely to be taken up when foreign secretaries Nirupama Rao and Salman Bashir meet in Islamabad on Thursday. “The proposal to include the joint anti-terror mechanism as the ninth point of the composite dialogue will most likely be on the agenda of discussions between the foreign secretaries,” a senior Pakistani official told The Telegraph in Islamabad.
The mechanism is not part of the eight-point agenda for the composite dialogue that India and Pakistan launched in 2004 to resolve all outstanding issues. The neighbours agreed to set up the mechanism under the umbrella of the dialogue process in 2006 to promote cooperation in the field of counter-terrorism.
The Indian understanding, however, is that the anti-terror mechanism failed because of lack of sincerity on the Pakistani side. And Islamabad has done little to convince New Delhi that things have changed.
“The talks (between Rao and Bashir) are primarily aimed at finalising the agenda of the meeting between the two foreign ministers on July 15. But foreign secretary Bashir and his Indian counterpart will use this opportunity to discuss other topics such as peace and security, fishermen, water issues and co-operation over terrorism,” the Pakistani official said.
Foreign ministers S.M. Krishna and Shah Mehmood Qureshi had last month agreed to meet as a follow-up to the April 29 meeting between Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and Yousaf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of the Saarc summit in Bhutan.
New Delhi is unlikely to accept — or reject out of hand — any new proposals that come up during the Rao-Bashir talks on Thursday and Union home minister P. Chidambaram’s meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Rehman Malik the next day. Chidambaram will attend the Saarc conference of home ministers on Saturday.
The Indian approach to these meetings is that they will not clinch much in the immediate but could become bridges to future agreements. Official sources have said India is “open” to any Pakistani proposals that come up, but would take its time deciding their worth and workability.
This “positive caution” comes essentially from the existing trust deficit; New Delhi is not convinced Islamabad is willing to fulfil its promises on the terror issue. Neither is there any sense yet that the Indian establishment is willing to plunge blindly into any arrangement in the absence of mutual trust.
–Agencies–