Overboard peacenik

Mr Zardari has not really said anything new, but merely repeated what the Musharraf government has always been saying, that improved people-to-people contacts will lead to improved ties. Despite conceding almost everything that India has ever wanted, Pakistan under Musharraf achieved no progress on any bilateral issue, even if Kashmir is excluded, and which India did not want on the agenda at all.

Mr Zardari should revisit not merely what was PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s stance on Kashmir, but why. He will realize that the dispute is not merely the key to the two countries achieving peace between each other, but also to their respective ideologies.