The stalled India-Pakistan peace process is headed back on track with the two countries agreeing on Tuesday to fast-track the composite dialogue process. The first round of discussions under this eight-point composite dialogue process, which has Jammu and Kashmir, terrorism, Siachen and other issues under its ambit, may in fact take place as early as this month itself.
The decision to resume bilateral talks — these have been bedevilled due to “a trust deficit” for long especially after the 26/11 terror strikes in Mumbai in 2008 and the beheading of an Indian soldier in January this year — came during the first high-level contact between the two countries after the Nawaz Sharif government came to power in Pakistan when external affairs minister Salman Khurshid had a bilateral meeting with the Pakistani PM’s special adviser on foreign affairs Sartaj Aziz on the margins of the Asean Regional Forum meeting here.
Pakistan also renewed its invite to PM Manmohan Singh to visit their country with Mr Aziz saying that he hoped the two heads of government will also be able to meet on the sidelines of the upcoming UN General Assembly session in New York in September if not earlier “to provide a political impetus to this dialogue”.
The willingness to smoke the peace pipe once again by both countries was clearly evident with the two leaders emphasising after their 20-minute meeting on Tuesday morning that there is political will on both sides to move ahead with the peace process. They were also hopeful that setting the peace process in motion will have a positive spin-off for bilateral economic ties.