Revive IndoPak talks, urges House panel

Standing committee on external affairs recommends ‘incremental approach’ to resumption of dialogue.

parliamentary panel has suggested reviving the India-Pakistan dialogue process, despite bilateral relations plummeting over issues ranging from terrorism to the way jailed former naval officer Kulbhushan Jadhav is being treated.

The standing committee on external affairs headed by Congress leader Shashi Tharoor recommended an “incremental approach” to resume the stalled dialogue, saying “geo-political realities” make such a process a necessity. The suggestion follows the government’s stand that no dialogue is possible until Islamabad “stops patronising anti-India terrorism”.

The government told the committee earlier that “a meaningful and purposeful dialogue can be held in an environment free from terror, violence and hostility” and “the onus is on Pakistan to create such an environment”.

The panel agreed that Pakistan should abide by its 2004 commitment to not allow its territory to be used for anti-India activities.

The recommendation is part of the panel’s action taken report on the its previous report on India-Pakistan relationship. The report was tabled in Lok Sabha Friday.

“Looking at the India-Pakistan relations in its entirety, the committee feels geo-political realities require both the countries to revive the dialogue process,” said the committee, which comprises Congress President Rahul Gandhi among others.

The panel said encouraging people-to-people contact and bilateral trade are ideal ways to prepare the ground for a dialogue between the two nations, which fought four wars and faced multiple crises in their fragile ties.

Bilateral dialogue suffered a blow after suspected Pakistanbased terrorists attacked the Pathankot airbase on January 2, 2016, killing six soldiers.

The attack happened days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an unscheduled visit at former Pakistani premier Nawaz Sharif’s home as a goodwill gesture. The two sides were looking at ways to resume the dialogue despite a trust deficit since 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks.

The relationship got more vitiated when a Pakistan military court convicted Kulbhushan Jadhav of espionage accusing him of working for Research and Analysis Wing, after he was allegedly arrested in Balochistan in March 2016. India denies the charges.