India, Pakistan coming closer
Yuba Nath Lamsal
From global viewpoint, South Asia is seen as a region of perpetual conflict. It is mainly due to tension between India and Pakistan. These nations have already fought three wars and were nearly at war following the attacks in Indian parliament in December 2001. The danger of another war between these two South Asian nuclear powers is always looming large.
Peace still seems a distant possibility in South Asia mainly between India and Pakistan. The appeal for war seems stronger than the appeal for peace in both neighbours leaving the entire South Asian region in vulnerability.
However, situation is changing slowly. These two archrivals are, now, coming closer and engaging themselves in constructive dialogue, which has, in deed, raised a new hope for peace in the region. This is definitely going to be matter of great satisfaction for the citizens of South Asia.
India and Pakistan have started the composite dialogue to resolve all outstanding issues that had remained pending for years. A bilateral meeting at the official level was held on February 16-18 in Islamabad in which both nations finalized the modalities and time frame for further talks. More importantly, they agreed to continue discussion to translate the atmosphere of mistrust into the environment of confidence and cooperation. The environment and mood with which the delegates concluded their meetings have created greater optimism for peace and stability in the region.
Although there is no breakthrough in the talks, meeting in itself has a big and positive message for regional peace as two nations are holding talks first time after seven long year of bitter cold war. Lasting peace is not possible without building trust and confidence between the conflicting parties. New Delhi and Islamabad have well realized it. The Islamabad parley is definitely a resolute beginning in the process of confidence building, cooperation and peace in the nuclear fragile South Asia.
India and Pakistan have many complicated issues waiting to be resolved, which include security, terrorism, drug control and economic cooperation. The central to all problems is the issue of Kashmir, which has been flash point of conflict between these two nations. And without the resolution of Kashmir issue, peace, security and mutual suspicion would hardly erode. Thus, they agreed to talk on Kashmir and arms control with greater priority, for which modalities and time frame have been agreed upon.
Given the complex nature of the relations and issues between these two nations, just one-sitting talks won’t resolve all the pending issues. Several rounds of talks and negotiations at various levels are, of course, necessary to arrive at a concrete and constructive decision and conclusion.
Only five weeks prior to the Islamabad meeting, Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pakistani President Parvez Mushraff, during the 12th SAARC Summit, had made commitment for initiating a composite dialogue between the two nations. The recent talks are the product of the commitment made by these leaders. This shows that both the nations are now flexible, serious and open for ending their long disputes and suspicion to give way to peace, cooperation and mutual trust.
This situation did not evolve all of a sudden. There have been several serious efforts at official and non-governmental levels were made at different times to build confidence among the nations of South Asia in general and India and Pakistan in particular. The role of civil society is more crucial in creating this environment of goodwill and understanding. These efforts have finally paid and the peace process has taken off.
Among such efforts are the initiatives taken by South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA) in bringing the two nations closer and creating and environment of dialogue needs to be mentioned here with prominence. SAFMA, a network of the journalists and media people from all South Asian countries, has made a number of initiatives in brining the people of South Asia closer and foster a new vista of cooperation in the region. Besides organizing annual regional conference and national conferences of all countries, it has time and again organized exchanges and meetings of leading personalities of the region. The meeting of parliamentarians from India and Pakistan some months ago was, in deed, a ground work to initiate the dialogue at the popular level and exert pressure from the civil society on both the governments to push ahead the peace process.
The SAARC was created some 17 years ago with a vision to promote greater cooperation among the nations of South Asia. But the SAARC has been a hostage of the conflict and rivalry mainly between India and Pakistan. Lately the SAARC summits have not been held as per scheduled let alone other areas of cooperation.
The region, whish has world’s one-fifth population, languishes in poverty, mistrust, conflict and backwardness. There are about 104 billion absolute poor people in this region alone. Other economic and social indicators are also poor only next to sub-Saharan region.
Against this dismal scenario, SAARC must be strengthened in order to expand areas of cooperation, eradicate poverty and make optimum utlisation of resources and capabilities the region posses for the greater benefit of the people. The 12th SAARC has, in deed, made some important headway towards achieving its goal. The most important achievement is the adoption of the SAARC Social Charter and giving go ahead to the SAFTA.
Principally, all member states are desirous in strengthening SAARC, fostering understanding and good will and expanding cooperation in the region. But these commitments need to be translated into action by each and every nation in letter and spirit. The world is watching South Asia with curiosity. South Asia has immense potentials. But the need of hour is the commitment, cooperation and common approach from all members of the region. Now SAARC has grown from vision to reality. The future of the South Asia lies on the success of SAARC. Given the new developments, the future appears promising. The India-Pakistan détente is a new beginning not only for resolving their own issues but fostering peace and cooperation in the region s a whole. This process needs to keep going.
From global viewpoint, South Asia is seen as a region of perpetual conflict. It is mainly due to tension between India and Pakistan. These nations have already fought three wars and were nearly at war following the attacks in Indian parliament in December 2001. The danger of another war between these two South Asian nuclear powers is always looming large.
Peace still seems a distant possibility in South Asia mainly between India and Pakistan. The appeal for war seems stronger than the appeal for peace in both neighbours leaving the entire South Asian region in vulnerability.
However, situation is changing slowly. These two archrivals are, now, coming closer and engaging themselves in constructive dialogue, which has, in deed, raised a new hope for peace in the region. This is definitely going to be matter of great satisfaction for the citizens of South Asia.
India and Pakistan have started the composite dialogue to resolve all outstanding issues that had remained pending for years. A bilateral meeting at the official level was held on February 16-18 in Islamabad in which both nations finalized the modalities and time frame for further talks. More importantly, they agreed to continue discussion to translate the atmosphere of mistrust into the environment of confidence and cooperation. The environment and mood with which the delegates concluded their meetings have created greater optimism for peace and stability in the region.
Although there is no breakthrough in the talks, meeting in itself has a big and positive message for regional peace as two nations are holding talks first time after seven long year of bitter cold war. Lasting peace is not possible without building trust and confidence between the conflicting parties. New Delhi and Islamabad have well realized it. The Islamabad parley is definitely a resolute beginning in the process of confidence building, cooperation and peace in the nuclear fragile South Asia.
India and Pakistan have many complicated issues waiting to be resolved, which include security, terrorism, drug control and economic cooperation. The central to all problems is the issue of Kashmir, which has been flash point of conflict between these two nations. And without the resolution of Kashmir issue, peace, security and mutual suspicion would hardly erode. Thus, they agreed to talk on Kashmir and arms control with greater priority, for which modalities and time frame have been agreed upon.
Given the complex nature of the relations and issues between these two nations, just one-sitting talks won’t resolve all the pending issues. Several rounds of talks and negotiations at various levels are, of course, necessary to arrive at a concrete and constructive decision and conclusion.
Only five weeks prior to the Islamabad meeting, Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pakistani President Parvez Mushraff, during the 12th SAARC Summit, had made commitment for initiating a composite dialogue between the two nations. The recent talks are the product of the commitment made by these leaders. This shows that both the nations are now flexible, serious and open for ending their long disputes and suspicion to give way to peace, cooperation and mutual trust.
This situation did not evolve all of a sudden. There have been several serious efforts at official and non-governmental levels were made at different times to build confidence among the nations of South Asia in general and India and Pakistan in particular. The role of civil society is more crucial in creating this environment of goodwill and understanding. These efforts have finally paid and the peace process has taken off.
Among such efforts are the initiatives taken by South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA) in bringing the two nations closer and creating and environment of dialogue needs to be mentioned here with prominence. SAFMA, a network of the journalists and media people from all South Asian countries, has made a number of initiatives in brining the people of South Asia closer and foster a new vista of cooperation in the region. Besides organizing annual regional conference and national conferences of all countries, it has time and again organized exchanges and meetings of leading personalities of the region. The meeting of parliamentarians from India and Pakistan some months ago was, in deed, a ground work to initiate the dialogue at the popular level and exert pressure from the civil society on both the governments to push ahead the peace process.
The SAARC was created some 17 years ago with a vision to promote greater cooperation among the nations of South Asia. But the SAARC has been a hostage of the conflict and rivalry mainly between India and Pakistan. Lately the SAARC summits have not been held as per scheduled let alone other areas of cooperation.
The region, whish has world’s one-fifth population, languishes in poverty, mistrust, conflict and backwardness. There are about 104 billion absolute poor people in this region alone. Other economic and social indicators are also poor only next to sub-Saharan region.
Against this dismal scenario, SAARC must be strengthened in order to expand areas of cooperation, eradicate poverty and make optimum utlisation of resources and capabilities the region posses for the greater benefit of the people. The 12th SAARC has, in deed, made some important headway towards achieving its goal. The most important achievement is the adoption of the SAARC Social Charter and giving go ahead to the SAFTA.
Principally, all member states are desirous in strengthening SAARC, fostering understanding and good will and expanding cooperation in the region. But these commitments need to be translated into action by each and every nation in letter and spirit. The world is watching South Asia with curiosity. South Asia has immense potentials. But the need of hour is the commitment, cooperation and common approach from all members of the region. Now SAARC has grown from vision to reality. The future of the South Asia lies on the success of SAARC. Given the new developments, the future appears promising. The India-Pakistan détente is a new beginning not only for resolving their own issues but fostering peace and cooperation in the region s a whole. This process needs to keep going.
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