India and Pakistan took measured steps towards confidence building and achieving a lasting peace during Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s visit. The Pakistani leader held comprehensive talks with India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The visit was extensively reported and commented upon in the South Asian media.
Softly does it in India-Pakistan ties
Sunday’s [April 17] summit between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has set a new benchmark for political interaction between the two countries. Not only was the tone and tenor of the interaction exceptionally positive; the two principals and their delegations also managed to generate specific outcomes on a number of issues.
....As far as Jammu and Kashmir is concerned, both sides seem comfortable with the newly emerged shared vocabulary of soft borders. Dr. Singh reiterated his position that there could be no redrawing of boundaries but pointed out that the removal of restrictions on the movement of people and goods across those boundaries could help make them less and less of a problem. The Pakistani side is happy to go along with this conceptually but believes that outstanding political differences must be addressed within a reasonable time frame.....
––– Editorial, The Hindu, Chennai
Leaders’ Talk
All that the Pakistan president, Mr Pervez Musharraf, had wanted was to watch an Indo-Pak one-day international. The Indian government transformed what could have been an innocuous visit into a major diplomatic interlude on terms set by the Pakistan president.....
What needs to be pondered by the Indian side is whether what has been announced in the joint statement needed a presidential visit for it to be accomplished. The answer, if the hype and the atmospherics can be eliminated, will be in the negative.
.... Diplomatic breakthroughs are produced after hours spent at the negotiating table by hard-nosed mandarins trained in the science of real politik. Presidents and prime ministers come in at the end of the process to put their signatures and to win the applause. They represent the icing on the cake. Mr Musharraf and Mr Singh were the icing, but there was very little cake underneath.
––– Editorial, The Telegraph, Kolkata
Enduring peace?
India and Pakistan’s commitment to the irreversibility of the peace process will be widely welcomed by the people of the two countries and beyond. After decades of bilateral relations fluctuating between extreme euphoria and hostility, it does seem from the joint statement issued at the end of President Pervez Musharraf’s visit that the two countries are in the peace process for the long haul. India and Pakistan would continue talks on Kashmir to seek a final solution. The two sides have agreed to more meeting points along the Line of Control and totrade across the LOC. .... The two sides have come a long way from the Agra summit in August 2001. .... This time, progress seems to have been made away from the glare of the media. The coming months — perhaps years — will require quiet diplomacy, flexibility and patience of the two sides. The aim of the negotiations is an enduring peace; so neither side should expect quick results or dramatic breakthroughs.
––– Editorial, Deccan Herald, Bangalore
One busy weekend
....every point in Manmohan Singh’s and Musharraf’s joint statement carries increased potential for cooperation and inter-dependence. But the triumph of this busy weekend lies in the measured pace of cooperation, in the incremental nature of the peace process.
....The joint statement commits the two countries to working towards a mutually acceptable settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir issue. Alongside, it deepens the scope for movement and contact, by putting travel and trade at the centre of India-Pakistan engagement..... Pakistan, post-9/11, is in the throes of efforts to re-order its economy. India knows it can never be at peace with itself amidst acrimony with its neighbors. Neither can attack issues of national interest as long as anxiety over the other prevails. If we play it right, in this positive sum game, both could emerge as huge winners.
––– Editorial, The Indian Express, New Delhi
SOUTH ASIA
A successful summit
Unlike the disaster the Agra summit was, President Pervez Musharraf’s three-day visit to India has fetched results and pushed the normalization process forward.
As the joint communique issued in New Delhi on Monday [April 18] notes, progress towards taking more confidence-building steps has been satisfactory as seen in people-to-people contacts and enhanced areas of cooperation. Significantly, unlike the usual joint communiques after such conferences, this one was read out by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.... Mr Singh said the two leaders agreed that the process of normalization was “irreversible.”
....There is, however, no room for complacency. ....There are fanatics and chauvinists on both sides, and it will take courage and statesmanship on the part of the two governments to stick to the peace process.
––– Editorial, Dawn, Karachi
Upbeat Indo-Pak mood
The confidence-building process that had started quite some time ago between New Delhi and Islamabad has now graduated into a state of rapprochement between the two big neighbors of South Asia.
This seems to be the outcome of thoughtful cricket diplomacy initiated by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf which was duly reciprocated by his host Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.....
The two leaders held a near-marathon meeting lasting for two hours and a half which covered the whole gamut of bilateral issues. As for the thorny Kashmir issue, recognition of the need for tackling it headlong has been achieved which is indeed a significant development.
Manmohan’s pragmatism was amply reflected in his words that since it was difficult to redefine borders in Kashmir, they must now concentrate on people-to-people relationship.
....The move towards a radical improvement in the ties between New Delhi and Islamabad has an auspicious note for the region.
–– Editorial, Daily Star, Dhaka
