Rahul, Bilawal at lunch
Meeting over lunch when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh plays host to visiting Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday will be the scions of two political dynasties.
The young Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who was anointed chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party at the age of 19 after his mother Benazir’s assassination, will be at the lunch as will be Nehru- Gandhi family scion Rahul Gandhi, a general secretary in the Congress party and a member of Parliament.
Despite being the first Pakistan head of state to visit India since 2005, President Asif Ali Zardari’s arrival in India on a daylong visit on Sunday has so far not created too many ripples in J& K.
For one, initially it had been described as a private visit to the dargah of Ajmer Sharif but a luncheon meeting between the Indian Prime Minister and the Pakistani President has given it a greater spin.
Even though tensions between the two nuclear armed neighbours are on the bend, J& K chief minister Omar Abdullah went public on Saturday to state that he for one had few expectations from the visit.
A categorical Omar said, “We don’t have many expectations. It’s a system. I think we ourselves weaken the system when we think that one meeting would solve all the prob- lems.”
The chief minister hoped that a greater dialogue could be resumed between people on both sides of the LOC. “I also believe the barter system of trade should be replaced with other financial terms or letters of credit should be used as a mechanism for trading,” he said, adding, “I for one hope that this continuous dialogue process continues between the two countries.”
Dr Sameer Kaul, PDP spokesperson, believes Kashmiris are viewing the visit with interest because Mr Zardari is bringing a high- level delegation and both he and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh are going to have a one- on- one meeting. “The stakes have been stepped up further now that we learn Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi will also be meeting Zardari,” said Dr Kaul. “The future of the people of Kashmir is being negotiated but they remain exclud- ed from the dialogue. The Kashmiris have been demanding a tripartite dialogue yet they are nowhere in the picture,” he said. Dr Suneem Khan, a Srinagar- based oncologist, believes the separatist camp, including Yasin Malik, Sajid Lone and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, are pinning their hopes on the visit though the rest of the public sees this as being one more confidence- building measure being undertaken by the nations.