Scepticism in Delhi on Pak’s expectations
Pakistan foreign secretary Salman Bashir, who will hold talks with his Indian counterpart Niru-pama Rao in Islamabad on June 24, expects “detailed talks” on a framework for fighting terrorism, including, possibly, a revamp of the joint anti-terrorism mechanism.
“We can look into an array of things that we can do together ... We could develop the modalities of a framework for fighting terrorism and yes, revamp the anti terrorism mechanism. In this area we will have detailed talks with the Indian home minister. It will be useful to get input both from him and the foreign secretary which would be given to the foreign minister,” Mr Bashir told the News, a Pakistani newspaper.
The foreign secretary-level talks will be followed by Union home minister P. Chidambaram’s meeting with his Pakistan counterpart, Mr Rehman Malik, in Islamabad on June 26, and external affairs minister S.M. Krishna’s meeting with Mr Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the Pakistani foreign minister, also in Islamabad, on July 15.
Also, New Delhi on Friday handed over a set of responses to the six dossiers received from Islamabad on April 25 in connection with the Mumbai attacks. The information was shared in a meeting between Mr Y.K. Sinha, joint secretary in charge of the Pakistan desk in the MEA, and Pakistan deputy high commissioner Riffat Masood.
Mr Bashir’s suggestion of revamping the anti-terror mechanism was met with scepticism in diplomatic circles here. Kanwal Sibal, a former foreign secretary, told this newspaper that intelligence-sharing would not work because Pakistani state agencies themselves were involved in terrorism and would not share or accept evidence against organisations they have nurtured. Instead, he expected Pakistan to use the mechanism for raising issues such as Balochistan and Afghanistan.
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