For returns, talk trade with Pakistan

Prime minister I.K. Gujral has unequivocally led the charge : talks with Pakistan yes, but not at the cost of the secular unity and integrity of the country. Just because he was born in Jhelum, Pakistan, and was politically weaned at Government college, Lahore, doesn8217;t mean that Islamabad can co-opt him as a man of destiny. India knows that Pakistan8217;s ISI has made its mark in Kashmir. It has pitted community against community and left behind wounds that won8217;t heal for years, but it has also done us a service : it has hardened the public mood into defending every inch of the nation8217;s physical and emotional territory.

India8217;s team in Islamabad is all in favour of strengthening Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif8217;s hand. We tip our cap to the man who has not only captured the Pakistani parliament, but dared to scrap the Eighth Amendment, sacked a supposedly corrupt naval chief and has publicly declared that he will trim the bloated public sector by a million men. He has also done the unthinkable by reducing the defence budget in real terms by as much as 8-9 per cent, thereby giving the lie to Foreign Minister Gohar Ayub Khan, who has in recent weeks proclaimed the need to buy expensive defence toys to counter the 8220;violation8221; of Pakistani airspace by Indian fighter planes.

Not least, Sharif is also said to favour a particular cricket glove that says it is made in India.8217; His secret fantasy is believed to be 8220;trade, trade and more trade with Pakistan8217;s neighbours.8221; Those who know him say his favourite mantra is 8220;poverty alleviation8221;, not Kashmir. History will not forgive us, those who have overheard him ruminating into the blue yonder add, if the nation doesn8217;t get its act together, raise living standards and create a generally more egalitarian society at home.

Whatever Pakistan8217;s internal preoccupations, India will do business with whoever sits on the gaddi in Islamabad. But if we are to be partners in the guftagu, then let us do business like mature men and women. If we decided at Male not to indulge in hostile propaganda, then let Gohar Ayub rein in his imagination. Writing to the Security Council on the 8220;deployment8221; of the Prithvi and asserting that it has led to a degeneration in the region8217;s security environment, is definitely not the best confidence-building measure to undertake with India.

Whatever the outcome of this round of talks and future round tables, one thing is clear : India is keen on good neighbourly relations, but to invert the metaphor, it has successfully crossed the Pakistan-centric lakshman rekha. An economy on the verge of taking off means that India has engaged the outside world, whether in a full dialogue partnership with South-east Asia or in a perspective plan with the European Union. New Delhi needs Islamabad, if only to end the dispute in the entire state of Jammu amp; Kashmir, including Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir. But Islamabad needs New Delhi much more, for a start on trade 8212; one-fourth of Pakistan8217;s imports are sourced from India but enter through a third country, thereby pushing up costs as much as 25 per cent. That is the real message of the Indo-Pakistani dialogue.