Journalism of Courage
Days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi goes to New York to attend the UN General Assembly, India and Pakistan have held two quiet meetings over the last one week. These are the first contacts between top-ranking officials, almost a month after cancellation of the August 25 talks between the foreign secretaries over the Pakistan envoy’s meeting with Hurriyat leaders.
A senior government source told The Sunday Express that the first meeting took place between National Security Advisor Ajit K Doval and Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit on September 13. This was their first one-on-one meeting since the Modi government took charge. Sources privy to the record of discussions said Doval conveyed that the Indian Prime Minister was “committed” to normalisation of relations with Pakistan.
The second meeting, which took place a few days later, was between Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh and Basit. This was their first meeting after their last phone conversation on August 18 when Singh had given Basit an ultimatum that the FS-level talks, scheduled for August 25, will be called off if his meeting with Hurriyat leaders was not cancelled. That conversation happened barely 20 minutes before the meeting between Basit and Hurriyat leader Shabir Shah. The FS-level talks were called off the same evening.
In the meeting between Singh and Basit, government sources said the foreign secretary and the Pakistan envoy agreed that they need to move forward. In both meetings, the issue of the Hurriyat leaders was not raised by either side. There was an element of “positivity” in both meetings, as perceived from perusal of the record of discussions prepared by South Block officials.
While no formal proposal has been suggested by either side for a meeting between Modi and Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in New York, sources pointed out that these meetings — between Doval and Basit, and Singh and Basit — took place before Sharif’s plans for New York were finalised.
According to information available with South Block, Sharif will be leaving for the US on September 24, will address the UN General Assembly on September 26, and leave for Pakistan on September 27. While Modi’s schedule is yet to be finalised, he is expected to reach on September 26 and address the UNGA on September 27.
So “there is a window of opportunity as both leaders will be in New York at the same time. It depends on the two leaders whether they want to avail the opportunity or not,” a top source told The Sunday Express.
Both sides are hedging right now. While External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s “no full-stop, only comma and semi colon” remark has been received well, there is a thinking in the diplomatic establishment that the BJP may not have the flexibility due to the Jammu and Kashmir elections. Sharif too is battling political turmoil at home and it is not yet clear whether he can publicly accept the new Indian line of “either Hurriyat or government”.
But New Delhi has already nuanced its position, saying that the “sequencing” of meetings between Pakistan envoy-Hurriyat and Foreign Secretary-level talks is the issue, and not meetings between the Pakistan envoy and Hurriyat leaders per se.
Last month, Modi told Japanese journalists that India has “no hesitation to discuss any outstanding issue with Pakistan within the bilateral framework that has been established under the Simla Agreement and the Lahore Declaration”. He also offered assistance to Pakistan as a humanitarian gesture when floods struck Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
