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India And Pakistan Agree To Talks, On What?
NEW DELHI, May 31 (News Agencies) - With the shock of India's surprise invitation to Pakistan for talks over Kashmir waning, the focus is now on what the two sides will actually discuss at the negotiating table.
In his reply to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's invitation, Pakistan's military ruler General Pervez Musharraf this week identified Kashmir as the "root cause of tension" that had kept both nations in "distrust and hostility" over these past decades.
"I therefore look forward to sincere and candid discussions with you to resolve the issue ... in accordance with the wishes of the Kashmiri people," Musharraf said in his reply.
Indian newspapers were quick to highlight the nuances in Musharraf's reply.
An editorial in the Indian Express on Thursday said Musharraf's reference to Kashmir as the "root cause of tension" had "put a spoke in the wheel of the dialogue process."
While no one denied that Kashmir remained one of the main issues between the two countries, Musharraf in his answer had attempted "to define the destination even before the walk had begun," the Express said.
"It looks like a surreptitious attempt at defining the agenda ahead of the summit," the paper said.
The Times of India said that, judging by the rhetoric on both sides, there would be a hard haul ahead.
"It's almost certain that mutual differences will dog the agenda for talks," the paper said.
Earlier this week in New Delhi, Indian foreign minister Jaswant Singh indicated the question of sovereignty over Kashmir was non-negotiable.
"The whole of Kashmir is an integral component of India and that stand remains unaltered," he said.
Given the extreme positions, the Indian press has been speculating over the past week as to what the two sides would find to discuss around the table.
According to Kalim Bahadur, a professor of South Asian studies from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, the India-Pakistan dialogue in the past ran aground because of Islamabad's insistence that all other problems between the two sides be resolved only after the Kashmir issue is sorted out.
"We have agreements on several issues. But Pakistan has put them on hold demanding that the Kashmir issue be resolved first," he said.
This time round too, Islamabad had said nothing new and New Delhi also had adopted a rigid stance.
"At present, there is very little leeway for a breakthrough of any sort," Bahadur said.
"That we have a dialogue will be one step. Talking is better than not talking," he added.
However other analysts appeared more optimistic.
"There is room at the table for conversation," said former foreign secretary S.K. Singh.
"When issues appear insolvable, diplomacy aims to find common ground. This theory is applicable even to Kashmir," he said.
General Musharraf's readiness "to discuss all other outstanding issues" should be seen as a positive development, Singh said .
According to Commodore C.U. Bhaskar, deputy director of the Institute of Defense Studies and Analyses, the peace summit will not get far beyond talks about talks.
"Leaders on both sides are coming in with lots of baggage," he said, adding that as the process moved forward, "the dialogue will define and create its own space."
Pakistan and India have fought three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947, two of them over Kashmir.
The conflict in Indian Kashmir has claimed more than 35,000 lives since 1989, according to Indian figures. Kashmiri leaders say the death toll is twice as high.
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