Round The World

New Delhi, 28 February 2012

Breaking Indo-Pak Imbroglio

LOOK BEYOND SECURITY CALCULUS

By Obja Borah Hazarika

Research Scholar, School of International Studies (JNU)

India and Pakistan seem to be taking the trade route out of the several acrimonious issues which haunt their ties. Contentions over water, Kashmir and 26/11 continue to provide much fodder for continued hostility. However, sharing the sub-Continent for over 60 years has possibly led to gathering gainful experience in tactfully dealing with each other.

Significantly, three years post the Mumbai bloodbath, India-Pakistan relations seem to be on an upswing, albeit with delays and holdups. But both sides are seen to be attempting to move beyond reducing their relationship to merely security calculations and to be focusing on other aspects of their ties while working to solve outstanding issues as well.

Indeed, India and Pakistan have come a long way since New Delhi refrained from composite dialogue post 26/11. India’s refusal to concede to discourses as it did not yield any visible gains. In these three years, New Delhi and Islamabad have been making piecemeal advances in resuming contacts and have successfully used several multi-national fora to increase communication.

From Russia, Sharm-el-Sheikh to Thimphu; both reiterated their commitment to cooperate.  Cricket diplomacy in Mohali, Khar’s India visit, continuance talks despite the India-Afghanistan strategic partnership, Islamabad's decision to grant Most Favorued Nation (MFN) status to India, freeing of an Indian military helicopter, bonhomie in Addu in November last, India’s support for Pakistan's inclusion as a non-permanent member of the Security Council all contributed to the creation of normal an atmosphere of normalcy despite monumental differences between the two.

Recent events which mark India-Pakistan relations portray a sense of maturity between the otherwise hostile neighbours. An example, the conscious decision of Pakistani officials to refrain from accusing India of stirring trouble in Baluchistan last week despite domestic pressures and potential loss of political capital. A stand quite different from Islamabad’s usual refrain of suspecting an India hand in Baluchistan as witnessed in India’s debacle in the 2009 at Sharm el-Shiekh.

Another tangible development between the two has been the announcement made by both countries on 21 February wherein they agreed to extend a pact on reducing the risk from accidents related to nuclear weapons for another five years and reviewed a range of existing nuclear and conventional CBMs.

The significance of this lies in the fact that talks on nuclear and conventional CBMs were part of the resumed peace process. Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar’s recent visit to Pakistan too is part of a bilateral exchange of parliamentary delegations. Such contacts increase the cooperative spirit and cordiality between the neighbours. Besides, both exchanged prisoners at the Attari- Wagah border last month. Clearly, this reciprocity augurs well for advancement of ties.

On the trade front, India and Pakistan seem to have made remarkable progress. It began with Islamabad’s announcement of granting India MFN status notwithstanding, hard-line elements, including the Defa-e-Pakistan Council opposing the move. Perhaps, such domestic elements misunderstand the implications of the MFN status.

Apart from unfounded fears of Indian goods flooding Pakistani market, the granting of MFN would mean that Islamabad will bestow on India the same trade benefits as it assigns to other nations. Nevertheless, despite opposition, in the South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) Ministerial council last month, all nations agreed to would work towards reducing the size of their respective sensitive lists.

Along the same line, the Commerce Minister’s visit to Pakistan in February led to a joint statement with Islamabad agreeing to liberalize trade with India and conceded to put in place a small negative list of goods by the end of the month where imports would be restricted. This negative list is expected to be phased out by the year end.

Some of the other tangible outcomes were the announcement of exploring the opening of Munabao/Khokharapar trade route. Also, with the infrastructure requirements being fulfilled, trade through Wagah would be allowed as agreed earlier by both sides. Both declared that they were working on visa facilitation for movement of businessmen across the border and the issue of opening bank branches in both countries. Three MoU’s were signed on customs procedures, harmonising standards and grievance redress when disputes arose between traders. 

Undeniably, the plethora of issues in the joint statement points to manifold areas in which India and Pakistan are cooperating to enhance ties. These are remarkable advances in the relationship wherein Indo-Pak ties are often reduced to contentions at the strategic level and to security calculations.

However, there can be other matrices though which the New Delhi-Islamabad dynamics can be viewed. Trade and commerce can help provide the much-needed boost to elevate cordiality between the two. Thus, economics should be promoted despite the security calculus.

While prisoner exchanges, high level visits, trade related advances, some rhetorical concessions seem to abound in the India-Pakistan calculus presently, yet, deep rooted contentions and conflicts remain. The endgame in Afghanistan, bilateral impasse over Kashmir and Siachen, slow pace of enquiry into the 26/11 case continue to act as impediments to the realization of the full potential of a partnership between the two nations.

Moreover, political unease that plagues Pakistan also acts as a deterrent to discussions on these issues. India too faces domestic outcries over Gandhian Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption crusades, among other grievances of the public against the Government.

Thus, quick fixes to problems between the warring neighbours do not seem to be visible in the near horizon. Yet regardless of the persistence of contentions, the process of enhancing trade ties and other relations should continue to proceed. The main focus of India and Pakistan should be to continue to promote commerce and business, prisoner exchanges, people to people contacts and end the cricket impasse. While, at the same time negotiating to find solutions to the contentious issues.

Plainly the security and strategic overtone should no longer be the sole defining feature of the India-Pakistan relationship and should not be allowed to overshadow other aspects of ties or impede them from realizing their full potential. The non-security elements of the relationship should be encouraged and prioritized. Enhanced India-Pakistan partnership and cooperation in the non-security arena may even segue to help solving concerns in the security field. ----- INFA