It was disappointing but not so surprising when a few days ago India accepted and then rejected, within 24 hours citing two predated incidents, Prime Minister Imran Khan's offer for a meeting between the two counties' foreign ministers on the sidelines of UN General Assembly session. It was unclear whether the reason was to deflect attention from a mega corruption scandal hanging over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's head, his need to use the Pakistan card - as he did last time - in the upcoming general elections, or the pressure from his far-right ultra nationalist ideological home, the RSS. One or all of these reasons together made him change his mind. But few had expected what happened at the Saarc foreign ministers meeting in New York. Indian external affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj left in the middle of the meeting, apparently, to avoid hearing Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi give his speech.
Unfortunately, Saarc founded way back in 1985 for regional economic cooperation and development has remained virtually ineffective due to Pakistan-India bilateral issues of dispute. This unfinished agenda of the partition of the subcontinent should not have come in the way of regional progress through connectivity and trade but for Indian insistence on using the multilateral forum to settle scores with its arch rival. It chose to stay out of the 2016 biennial summit held in Islamabad. And as Qureshi pointed out while talking to journalists after the New York event, the summit scheduled for this year has already been delayed, with no end in sight although there is a general positivity among the rest of the members to move forward. "The attitude of one country" he said, "is making the spirit of Saarc and the spirit of the founding fathers of Saarc unfulfilled and unsuccessful." Notably, in her speech, Swaraj had stated that true potential of the region can be realized only if all countries contribute constructively towards delivery on the commitments Saarc has made to the people of the region. These are nice words, but of little practical value in the absence of good faith efforts for the realization of those commitments. Referring to her talk about regional cooperation, Qureshi rightly asked "how will regional cooperation be possible when the region's nations are not ready to sit together, and you are the obstacle in that dialogue and discussion?" There of course is no sensible answer to this question. Nor does New Delhi seem to be interested, at least not just yet, to find one.
Qureshi wondered in a BBC Urdu interview in another context, how do you fix things between two neighbours, atomic powers, with outstanding issues? "War is not an option. The only solution is a dialogue." In taking the initiative for the resumption of dialogue process, Pakistan has fulfilled its responsibility as a peace seeker. But it does not need to press any further for talks if the other side does not want them. India cannot wish away its western neighbour. Sooner or later, sanity has to prevail. The two counties will have to resolve their outstanding issues of dispute for the sake of their own as also the wider South Asian region's peace and prosperity.
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