Prelude to peace

Peace moves between India and Pakistan can have so many seemingly incongruous pieces. This weekend, however, many of them fell into place to inspire confidence that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s ‘‘third and last’’ peace initiative could be the start of a durable engagement. The action took place in different theatres of diplomacy. In Washington, DC, National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra had his meetings with State Department and Pentagon officials topped with an unscheduled tete-a-tete with President George Bush. After briefing US officials about India’s friendly overture to Pakistan and receiving messages of support in the endeavour, Mishra put the American role in perspective. A distinction has to be made, he said, between international, including American, efforts at ‘‘prevention of conflict’’ between the two neighbours and a bilateral dialogue aimed at reducing hostilities.

It is in this context that US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage’s three-day tour of the subcontinent must be situated. A year after he sought to avert an Indo-Pak war by carting to New Delhi an assurance that Pakistan would ‘‘permanently’’ end cross-border terrorism — and just hours after he conveyed Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s contention that terrorist training camps had ceased to exist in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir — he was presented proof to the contrary. In response, the envoy promised greater American pressure on Islamabad to curb terrorist activity. America’s leverage in Pakistan has been repeatedly demonstrated in recent months, and it is time Musharraf’s army was held to account for its protestations about preventing infiltration across the Line of Control.

In re-establishing diplomatic and communication links after a 16-month chill, in seeking re-engagement without threading in old maximalist conditions or plans for grand summit-level talks, Prime Minister Vajpayee has ensured his initiative a tremendous amount of flexibility. It allows India and Pakistan to balance domestic and bilateral concerns as they set about restoring the appurtenances of normalcy. And, it guides multilateral involvement, like America’s, toward creating a conducive atmosphere to take forward the initiative — that is, in ensuring that the entire peace process is not derailed once again by terrorism.