Bound by options

Sceptics can pick any number of nits in Indias renewed engagement with Pakistan,marked by the talks between the two foreign secretaries in Islamabad on Thursday,the on-going exchanges between the home ministers in Pakistan this weekend,and the planned dialogue between the two foreign ministers next month. Some would say it is a departure from Indians earlier position that it would not talk unless Pakistan brings the plotters of 26/11 to book. Others would argue that Pakistan has neither the will nor the capacity to deliver on any promise to prevent its territory from being used by anti-India terrorist groups. The Pakistan armys investment in the Lashkar-e-Toiba,some would insist,means that no action will be taken against the LeT whatever might be the evidence that India puts on the table. Any dialogue with Pakistan,the critics conclude,is either unproductive or counter-productive.

The critics reflect the widespread national frustration at the failures of the peace process with Pakistan. None of them,however,offers a credible answer to our enduring security dilemmas with Pakistan. That probably is one reason why Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has disregarded the attacks on his Pakistan policy from the national security hawks in Delhi. Dr Singh knows as did his predecessor Atal Bihari Vajpayee that suspending the talks with Pakistan after a major terror attack loses its shock value quickly and there is no option but to resume talks after a decent interval. That discomforting experience should tell us two important things. One,Delhi cant eliminate the sources of terrorism in Pakistan through political give and take. The links between the terror groups and the state agencies in Pakistan are now too entrenched. Second,dialogue is not a favour that India offers to Pakistan and withdraws when the mood sours. It is in Indias interest to maintain a dialogue with our nuclear armed neighbour that is at once a source and target of violent extremism and is increasingly unable to exercise effective authority over its own territory.

Talking to the formal civilian structures in Islamabad should be one,and not necessarily the most important,element in Indias engagement with Pakistan. That should include a major effort to deal with all the major institutions,including the army and the intelligence agencies. India must also embark on a substantive dialogue with the political classes across the border as well as the many international stakeholders in Pakistans stability. It is only through a sustained engagement,with no expectation of short-term results,that India can hope to engineer a long overdue internal change in Pakistan that overturns its current policy of instrumentalising violent religious extremism. The emphasis on the long-term means now is as good a time as any to begin a patient engagement with Pakistan.