Lahore milestone

Busing to Pakistan has turned out to be more useful than anyone could have anticipated in the circumstances. Atal Behari Vajpayee and Naw...

Busing to Pakistan has turned out to be more useful than anyone could have anticipated in the circumstances. Atal Behari Vajpayee and Nawaz Sharif seized every opportunity provided by an impromptu visit to underscore the new thinking at the highest political levels. Speeches, gestures and the joint declaration in Lahore all reinforced the message that India and Pakistan have to move on and find solutions to the issues that divide them.

In a curious way, even the street demonstrations by the Jamaat-e-Islami and some scepticism in the Urdu Press proved useful. As is the case with their counterparts in India, opponents of the peace process succeed only in showing the futility of acrimony. And they give others a chance to prove that the nay-sayers are the ones being left behind while the world moves ahead.

Judging by the applause for Vajpayee8217;s new-millennium speech at the Lahore civic reception and the generally positive tone of media coverage, influential sections are more than ready to endorse theVajpayee-Sharif initiatives. The significance will not be lost on anyone of the first visit to the Minar-e-Pakistan by an Indian prime minister who is also the leader of a party which many have been led to believe has not reconciled itself entirely to partition.

The accumulation of positive signals, small and large, is what will create a conducive atmosphere for resolving conflicts. On the back of this, formal talks between the two prime ministers managed to smooth the way for the bilateral problem-solving process in several ways.

By reiterating that Kashmir will be discussed, as will all other outstanding issues, in the spirit of the Simla agreement, the middle ground acceptable to both sides becomes firmer. Second, while foreign secretary-level talks covering the full agenda will continue, the political direction needed for progress could emerge from parallel talks at the level of foreign ministers which have been initiated. Third, a process of confidence building on the nuclear front has begun.

Whenthere was expectation of something grander like a no-war pact, the measures here might sound like small potatoes. But a no-war pact or any other such overarching agreement would be meaningless unless underwritten by a series of practical measures a few of which were agreed in Lahore. To reduce the risk of accidental nuclear war each side has undertaken to inform the other of unintentional, unauthorised or unexplained incidents and to lay in secure communications for the purpose.

Obviously a whole lot of tougher risk-reduction measures are essential but this is a beginning as is the decision on advance notification of missile tests. Having found agreement on these measures at short notice, as it were, there is every reason to believe much more can be done in this area within a reasonably short time.

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Bringing down walls was never achieved in a day. By chipping away at mental blocks the prime ministers of India and Pakistan have started something few would have thought possible a few months ago. There8217;s along way to go. The wreckers of the peace process will not give up easily. Keeping up the momentum and the can-do spirit is very important.