In 2008, months before Asif Ali Zardari had been elected President of Pakistan, he articulated a vision for relations with India that was breathtaking in its forwardness. It is another matter that even before the Pakistan People's Party had settled into its role as the elected government, the terror attacks in Mumbai ensured that just guarding the India-Pakistan status quo would be an achievement; everything else was put on hold. Four years later, in his own unique style, Mr. Zardari has given a push to bilateral relations. A visit covering two cities in half a day with talks squeezed in before lunch was never expected to solve all the problems between the two countries, but its symbolic value can hardly be underestimated. By coming to India as a pilgrim first and only then a President, Mr. Zardari has provided a new metric for high-level visits between the two countries, almost making such trips across the border seem normal and easy. By comparison, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's insistence that he will visit Pakistan only when there is a big breakthrough to celebrate shows a diffidence at variance with his grand vision of “breakfast in Lahore, lunch in Kabul”. The Mumbai shadow still hangs over bilateral relations, and as the Prime Minister rightly pointed out to Mr. Zardari, Pakistan must clean out its stables if the two nations can celebrate a durable peace. But the Pakistani President's decision to come to India over the threats and protests of Hafiz Saeed, the head of the Laskar-e-Taiba/Jamat ud dawa that carried out the Mumbai attacks is a good sign; it is the second time that the PPP government has taken courage to defy Saeed and his backers in uniform; earlier this year, Islamabad decided to go ahead with changes to improve trade relations with India, despite dire warnings from the Difa-e-Pakistan council, an umbrella organisation of JuD and like-minded extremist groups.
Sunday's Zardari-Manmohan meeting will hopefully give new purpose to the dialogue process between the two countries. The tragedy at Siachen on the eve of President Zardari's visit was a cruel reminder of how close the two countries came to resolving this issue in 2006, and a warning of the urgency with which the two sides need to break the ice over it. Mistrust, and the recent memory of Kargil, were behind the Indian Army's objections to a proposed joint withdrawal from those icy heights. That the avalanche that killed 124 Pakistani soldiers and 11 civilians last Saturday might well have happened on the Indian side is a sobering thought. The disaster should spur both sides towards a resolution, so that there is no more the need to spend so much money and risk so many lives to assert a claim over what is essentially wasteland.
Keywords: India Pakistan relations, Zardari Ajmer visit, Zardari's India visit, Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti dargah, Sufi saint
i think, although it is fairly right to expect good outcome of the visit as whatever may be the status of zardari in his country, he is a democratically elected president at all, but if india could have argued over handing over the arrested extremist it would have been much better. Argument could have been made on the basis that it would only strengthen the trust between country, and it will be an indicator of pakistan's efforts to fight against extremism.
I think that pakistan is itself a troubled country.
Today a Terrorism is Problem It is International Problem . It can be end by joint movement by Pakistan and India . United Nation should also come between on Terrorism issue
Kashmir is not a problem its a Internal Part of India since 1947 .
If Pakistan and India both will fight against terrorism . Terrorism can permanently end from South Asia
The President of Pakistan visited India as a Pilgrim only, neither he comes with the motivation to discuss about Terrorism nor he wanted to help India on 26/11 Horrible blast.
The President has indeed shown exemplary courage in defying the warning issued by religious fundamentalists and has displayed positive intent in trying to take bilateral relations to a new level. It is true that Pakistan needs to deliver on the terror front and take immediate steps to bring the perpetrators of Mumbai terror attacks to justice. However the two countries cannot afford to wait until that happens. India has already discovered that such a measure is self defeating. So while talks should continue on more contentious issues, it is imperative that we also focus our attention on less contentious ones. Also initiatives like cricket and ‘shrine’ diplomacy can go a long way in easing the mutual suspicion that both countries harbor against each other. President Zardari has already shown the way. The Indian government should also take positive steps so that the goodwill that has been generated from this visit can be leveraged to enhance bilateral cooperation between the countries.
We may like to take a slow pace at the unfolding events and focus on the
objectivity of the issue. Has anything changed with this visit? Probably
not. It's a welcome optimism to move forward for both the sides, but
continued discussion culminating in Hijacking, Kargils are mere
reminders of how much is the potency of such events. On the cost of
being cynical it would be prudent that both sides display stepwise
substantive results for the other to voluntarily go another step forward
to bring a symbolic relevance to visits.
Economic and trade relations is the best way to build trust between two nations.Diplomats from both the countries should meet more often to boost the economic ties.This way we can strengthen our relations
I saw many experts on TV channels terming this meeting as gain for none but loss for India. I don't have the courage to take on them but I am entitled to have my opinion and I feel vindicated when I read this article in The Hindu. in a situation when civilian government in Pakistan is facing an all out attacks Zardari's new found courage to visit India is a welcome sign. It may be nothing more than a symbolism but I am sure this is symbolism of watershed policy shift of Pakistan vis-a-vis India. I won't say Zardari has called his army's bluff by chosing to visit India rather I'd say he earned the courage to bell the cat. And my request to all those who are criticizing this visit to take a moe prudent, practical and pragmatic standpoint. Zardari has done the best he could have done. We shouldn't allow Ajmal Kasab and Hafeez Saeed bogey to kill any citizen including army directly or indirectly who are joined by culture separated by poor polity.
Mistrust has been a traditional bane that stands between India and Pakistan, bio-physically so close yet so distant. The bilateral relations are sure overshadowed by 9/11 terror attacks. However, Manmohan Singh can be gallant in furthering the dialogue processbetween the two countries. He may take calculated risks instead of being cavalier or apathetic towards Pak invitation to visit the country. Rapport between the two countries is inevitable to avert in future tragedies like the one now occured in Siachen.
Now time is ripe for both the countries to resolve all the pending issues through bilateral dialogue.India showed great courage by extending their hand towards diplomacy that too after 9/11 attacks.Pakistan too needs to be very keen towards diplomacy so that people on bothsides will live in complete peace
The wall of distrust and the suspicion between India and Pakistan is preventing both countries from breaking the ice on many issues between the two. They , therefore, need to forget the past and convince each other of their sincerity to find solutions to the contentious matters through give and take.
Both the governments would agree to withdrawal forces from the wasteland but they are abided by the extremist groups. Nothing could be done about those as if now. Both the nations must come out with some strategy to deal with these groups then all other problems would be solved automatically.
Recent private visit of Pakistani President Zardari and his luncheon
meeting with the P M Dr Manmohan Singh has raised fresh hopes of
renewed peace efforts between India and Pakistan. Manmohan Singh is expected
to visit Pakistan on the invitation of the Pakistani President to
continue the process of dialogue. A clear agenda consisting of all
bilateral issues should be drawn up well in advance and the P M’s
visit should be preceded by secretaries’ meeting and also Ministers.We
should not cling to the cliché of some hardliners, ‘action before
talks’ but hold talks for taking action.No pre-conditions should be
spelt for moving further.. While we should not shy away from discussing
sensitive and controversial issues of security like handing over of
wanted terrorists and cross-border terrorism etc, we cannot expect
magical results to emerge. Keeping the doors open will atleast keep the
hostilities under control .
The Indo-Pak relation depends mainly on three factors-policy of India
towards Pakistan, policy of Pak towards India and socio-political
scenario of both the countries.The last one is an essential guiding
factor.If mutual justice and trust are the foundation stones of their
mutual relations,we may certainly await sweet results.
You have painted a very optimistic scenario. Past experience is that the Indo-Pak relations always move in circles. Zardari is not a very important political entity in Pakistan. Elections are due shortly in Pakistan and one does not know whether he will retain power or not. In any case the real power in Pakistan is always vested with the Armed Forces. As such, these kind of Photo-Opp events have very little significance.
The most significant aspect of this meeting between Dr. Singh and President Zardari is the body language. We must contrast this with all previous joint press conferences and how stiff and uncomfortable the two sides looked.There is very little doubt that better times are ahead because both sides have understood the futility of status quo!
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