After a six-month long break-up, India and Pakistan resumed what
they enjoy doing most - talking to each other. The foreign secretaries
of both the countries met in Islamabad to resume their composite
dialogue they had abandoned around six-month back, when few bombs
exploded in some part of India unfortunately killing some people. India
suspected Pakistan was responsible for the bombings, got miffed and
stopped talking to Pakistan."We missed talking to Pakistan all these months. There's so much of catching up we need to do on Kashmir, cross-border terrorism, confidence building measures and on so many other issues" said India's foreign secretary, Shivshankar Menon. "I wish Pakistan would stop disrupting our cozy talks by their frequent terror attacks"
"Why should a few blasts here and there come in the way of our chats? India should stop being so over-sensitive about terror attacks and not allow such minor irritants to interrupt our ongoing discussions" responded his Pakistani counterpart, Salman Bashir.
India & Pakistan have a long tradition of talking to each other. Despite frequent interruptions, brinkmanship, diplomatic, military & nuclear standoffs, threats and counter-threats, - high-level career bureaucrats, diplomats, defence-analysts and politicians from both the countries enjoy getting together, kicking back, having iftaar parties and making a weekend out of it.
"We are overwhelmed at the hospitality and the generosity of our hosts. The food has been just great. We really enjoyed discussing the status of our nationals lodged in their jails, concerns over renewed infiltration in J&K and firing incidents on the Line of Control at the dinner party hosted at the residence of Bashir Saheb. Delicious dinner menu consisting of roasted chicken, pepper chicken chettinad, egg kababs and paneer tikka, sound of lilting ghazals of Ghulam Ali in the background, gossip and laughter provided perfect ambiance for discussing issues like increasing the frequency of fortnightly Srinagar-Muzaffarabad and Poonch-Rawalakot bus services, visa related problems and cross-border terrorism." Junior foreign secretary Amrish Verma said. "But we wish there were more vegetarian items on the menu as some of our junior officials are strict vegetarians."
Salman Bashir apologized for the lapse and promised that the next time the Indian team visits Islamabad for talks, they would find no cause for complain. He also added, "It was deja vu all over again. We discussed all issues related to Kashmir with a positive and open mind. Small arguments broke out sporadically throughout our talks over the problem of cross-border infiltration, Jaipur blasts and other minor issues. We didn't move forward much on any issue and were unable to end the stalemate on the status of Kashmir. But nevertheless both the sides enjoyed the talks immensely and will take back only positive memories from the meetings."
The Pakistani side viewed the fourth round of the composite dialogue between the two countries as a success. "We keenly look forward to the fifth round of composite dialogue which will be held in New Delhi and are confident that our talks in India's capital would be successful too." said Bashir. Both the sides also finalized dates and venues for the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth round of composite dialogue. "We are keen that talks between us should continue uninterruptedly and hope that external events should not derail our talks.
Meanwhile, Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf told India's foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee that Pakistan is committed to talking with India and will continue attempting to resolve all differences through talks. "We are serious and committed to talking with India" said the President to the vising foreign minister. "I welcome the resumption of our composite dialogue and hope it will lead to more composite dialogues in future". Mukherjee too said that India is also committed to the dialogue process and wants to see more rounds of composite dialogues in future.
In New Delhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hailed the progress made by both the countries during the talks. "I am pleased to report that the talks were held in a cordial manner and all issues were discussed in a very open and positive spirit. I am confident that in future too talks will be held in the same spirit. I'm looking forward to more talks between the two countries and I hope that we maintain the same spirit of cordiality in all our future exchanges"
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India & Pakistan resume doing what they love most
Thursday, 22 May 2008
After a six-month long break-up, India and Pakistan resumed what they enjoy doing most - talking to each other. The foreign secretaries of both...
Thursday, 22 May 2008
After a six-month long break-up, India and Pakistan resumed what they enjoy doing most - talking to each other. The foreign secretaries of both...
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