Conflicting perceptions

Ikramullah
The Indian political leadership, including their prime minister and interior minister, have once again started harping on (as they normally do) the need for normalising relations with Pakistan, as a key to peace and prosperity, in the region torn with tensions and terrorism. Certainly, the true face of India is concealed behind this cosmetic appearance.
The latest peace talks held in Hyderabad House, New Delhi, between the foreign secretaries of the two countries have once again highlighted the nature of different perceptions about the core issues. Undoubtedly, the conflict of perceptions has persisted all along; even when it was believed that normalisation of relations was within reach. The reason was because Pakistan never deviated from its basic stand on Kashmir as the core issue to be decided in accordance with the UN resolutions. India, on the other hand, regarded Kashmir as its integral part (Atut Ang). During the 90s, the peace process was almost at its peak when Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee made his historic ‘bus journey’ to the Wagah and later signed the Lahore Declaration with then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. But the Kargil war crashed the process. Later, the course of events in the region once again forced the two nuclear neighbours to resume the peace process; however it was derailed first at Agra and then immediately after the Mumbai terror strikes.
History sometimes moves along an undefined and unpredictable path, as was in the case of the two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pakistan suddenly emerged as a key state in the region and its armed forces assumed a vital role. However, the Pakistani forces could not fully perform that role along its troubled western border at the cost of its national security along its eastern border with ‘hostile’ India. Therefore, it was due to international pressure that New Delhi was forced to resume dialogue with Islamabad, in order to create the required peaceful environment along the Indo-Pak border as well as the Line of Control in Kashmir. So far so good!
Such a dialogue for the restoration of relations between the two neighbours is essential and the need of the hour because the fate of one and a half billion poverty-stricken people of this underdeveloped/developing region hangs on this issue. Nevertheless the outstanding dispute between Pakistan and India, in which Kashmir stands on top of the list, is therefore the crying call of the people of South Asia. India is not prepared to show any flexibility on its stance on Kashmir, while Pakistan, as well as the people of Kashmir, demand a settlement in accordance with the UN resolutions.