INDIA-PAKISTAN: Old Foes Meet but Mostly Disagree

By Farhan Haq Reprint | | Print |

NEW YORK, Sep 24 1997 (IPS) - The meeting this week between Prime Ministers Inder Kumar Gujral of India and Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan was remarkable for its relatively friendly tone and offer of a non- aggression pact – but did little to further peace between the two countries.

Sharif broached the idea of a non-aggression pact between the two South Asian nations at the United nations Monday, while recognising that progress on on his offer will be slow. Gujral, howeever, did not even directly mention the peace talks with Pakistan in his address to the United Nations Wednesday, in keeping with India’s policy to avoid “internationalising” the issue.

“We have seen no reaction as yet” from India to the idea of a non-aggression treaty, the Pakistani prime minister said after meeting Gujral Tuesday, but he remained upbeat on long-term peace prospects. “The non-aggression treaty cannot be signed in one day… What we could not achieve in 50 years, we cannot expect to achieve in 30 days, or a few months.”

For his part, Gujral also promised improved relations with neighbouring states over the long term, telling the United Nations that “we extend our hand of friendship not in a mere reciprocity but in good faith.”

Gujral added that India expects cooperation in South Asia to be based on “mutual respect for each (nation’s) territorial integrity and sovereignty” – words which Indian officials say applies to Jammu and Kashmir, most of which has been occupied by India since the previous royal leadership agreed to join India in 1947.

Despite the relative absence of rhetoric and generally friendly tone, this week’s events offer little forward movement for the latest Indian-Pakistani peace talks, and even included a few steps backwards.

Indian diplomats voiced disappointment that Sharif’s plea for peace came in the same speech as his call for India to withdraw “at least those troops which are engaged in internal repression in Kashmir.” The Pakistani side was equally dismayed that India did not follow up on promises at working-level talks earlier this year in Islamabad that an Indian-Pakistani working group on Kashmir would soon be formed.

The Pakistani prime minister accused India of “backing down” on commitments to form working-level contacts to discuss the Kashmir issue, among other contentious items. Gujral responded that Pakistan had misinterpreted the agreement on working groups forged at Islamabad.

Sharif’s urging that India withdraw a portion of what Pakistan claims are as many as 600,000 troops in Kashmir as a “confidence- building” measure was also rebuffed by New Delhi, which has insisted that the issue cannot be dealt with in isolation.

“India is not linking that issue as a confidence-building measure,” a senior Indian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Tuesday night. “(Withdrawal of troops) has to be part of an overall package.”

The official added that India remains willing to discuss all sensitive disputes with Pakistan as long as the two sides do not “engage in polemics.”

He admitted that the two prime ministers were unable to agree on any mechanism to push the peace process forward, but emphasised the importance that they had talked here, adding, “It is our general view that the process of dialogue should continue and should not be contentious.”

Nevertheless, after several months in which the two countries – which have fought three wars against each other since both were founded in 1947 – were offering proposals to bridge their differences, the new talks came at a low point. Both Sharif and Gujral voiced their disappointment at recent shelling by both sides across the line of control in Kashmir, in which dozens of civilians have been killed over the past two months.

Both countries also faced pressure at the United Nations to sign on to last year’s Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), which bans nearly all nuclear test explosions; but both want to be able to conduct tests at least in the short term. India last year unsuccessfully tried to block the CTBT and still refuses to sign it, which will automatically prevent it from entering into force; Pakistan has also decided not to join the treaty, but has said it will do so if India also signs.

The prospect that two neighbouring enemy countries, both of which are believed to have nuclear weapons capabilities, could fight another war with each other has prompted many officials – including U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and U.S. President Bill Clinton – to seize the latest opportunity for peace. Clinton met with both prime ministers on Monday, and reportedly encouraged them to join the test ban treaty – a proposal, Indian sources say, which Gujral did not dismiss outright.

Sharif acknowledged that Washington could play a role in the Indian-Pakistani dialogue, saying that “American involvement would be very helpful to both countries.” British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook also offered his government’s assistance, if needed, in mediating the conflict.

Growing support among key governments is only one of the factors that has been boosting Indian-Pakistani peace prospects in recent months. Also important has been the generally friendly relationship between Gujral and Sharif, both of whom come from the province of Punjab – which is divided between the two nations. In recent months, India has also had a fresh incentive to improve its regional record as its chances to win a permanent seat on an expanded U.N. Security Council have improved.

India, Gujral said, “is prepared to accept the responsibilities of permanent membership. We are the largest democracy in the world, with ancient civilisational values and attainments, and a world view based on a universalist inspiration, participative governance (and) respect for diversity and pluralism.” But as long as the enmity in South Asia lasts, Pakistan is expected to block India’s bid for a permanent Council seat.

Both leaders seem aware that there is no other choice but peace at a time when South Asia’s military budgets are expanding and the two nations are caught up in an economically crippling arms race.

“South Asia, with one-fifth of the world’s population, remains mired in poverty and deprivation,” Sharif said. That state can only be ended, “by removing the causes of conflict and hostility.”