India and Pakistan must unfreeze ties

We must frame a format for talks that is insulated from interruptions

If India and Pakistan have been unable to resume some form of dialogue in the 10 years since the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, it is not for want of trying. The two sides have gone through the one step up, two steps back routine several times in the years since. But the two sides never came to grips with the main issues that have bedevilled the relationship. India has maintained that talks and terror cannot go together, a stand that isn’t surprising given the global clamour for Pakistan to do more to tackle terrorism emanating from its soil. For Pakistan, Kashmir remains the “core issue” to be addressed through any talks, and a worsening of the situation in the Indian State in the past few years appears to have only hardened the stance of the Pakistani leadership on this issue.

There are many takers for the theory that Pakistan’s former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was targeted by the military for opposing its stranglehold on foreign policy by extending a hand of friendship to India. There are also many in India who believe Mr Sharif’s successor, Imran Khan, is in power today largely because he has the blessings of the military establishment and will thus toe the army’s line on all matters related to India.

Mr Khan has gone on record as saying that talks may be possible only after India’s general elections in 2019. However, Mr Khan needs to keep in mind any dispensation in New Delhi will be reluctant to engage with Islamabad as long as members of his cabinet openly share the stage with Lashkar-e-taiba founder Hafiz Saeed. The two sides have to put in place a format for talks that is insulated from interruptions and focuses on low hanging fruit while chipping away at the more contentious issues.