Indian and Pakistani Leaders Meet in Russia

In a dramatic start to the meeting, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh shook hands with Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari and conveyed a blunt message in front of the assembled media that Pakistan’s territory must not be used for terrorism.

The two leaders then continued the meeting behind closed doors for nearly forty minutes. Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi was upbeat about it:

“Pakistan feels that it was a useful exercise and we made good progress. It was slow but steady.”

Need for composite dialogue

It was the first one-to-one meeting between India and Pakistan in more than six months. But observers warn against reading too much into it. Talat Wizarat, an expert on South Asian affairs in Karachi, says:

“I think this meeting can provide a beginning of some kind of thaw in relations, but for real improvement and real reduction in tension, there will have to be some kind of composite dialogue.”

Relations between New Delhi and Islamabad have been strained since the Mumbai attacks in November last year.

New Delhi blames Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e Taiba for the attacks and says Islamabad is not acting decisively against militants which are operating from its soil against India.

The bone of contention

The recent release of Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, a key suspect on India’s list of men being among the masterminds of the Mumbai attacks, has added to the anger in New Delhi. Captain Alok Bansal, a defence expert in New Delhi, explains:

“The basic pre-condition of dialogue has not been met because Hafiz Saeed, who is the leader of Jammat-ud Dawa is out and the Pakistani state has not even appealed against his acquittal as of now.”

Pakistan for its part says it needs more evidence from India for further action against militants.

Hope for future dialogue

Despite the persisting distrust, both sides have expressed willingness to pursue talks, perhaps also because of the mounting pressure from Washington which has been urging both sides to improve relations, so that Pakistan can remove its attention from India and concentrate more on fighting Taliban militants on its western border with Afghanistan.

And the meeting in Yekaterinburg seems to be a manifestation of this. The foreign secretaries of the two sides will be meeting soon to discuss terrorism. This will be followed by another meeting of the leaders of the two countries in the Egyptian city of Sharm-el Sheikh, which will be hosting the Non-Aligned Movement summit in July.

Author:Disha Uppal
Editor:Arun Chowdhury