When India and Pakistan start negotiations "Good beginning" is not necessarily. "Half done". Nonetheless it is heartening that the first post Indian elections meeting between the foreign secretaries of the two governments has started off on the right foot. What exactly was achieved has not yet been spelled out. It must be "getting to know" each other session rather than beginning of a composite dialogue. It augurs well that goodwill prevailed and there was sincere desire to make a headway. It should, however, be kept in mind that a meandering tortuous road lies ahead which will have to be traversed with patience.
In the pre-Vajpayee days Congress-ruled India had several rounds of secretarial negotiations with Pakistan which invariably failed to take off as there was no spirit of give and take with rigidity on both sides. The big difference now is that Pakistani claim of Kashmir being a disputed territory has been formally accepted by India. Earlier Congress government was prepared to talk on all disputes and differences sans Kashmir, which put Pakistan at a disadvantage vis-à-vis public support in the country. The confidence building measures initiated by Vajpayee and responded to by Musharraf have gone a long way in creating a positive environment for a fruitful dialogue on weighty issues. As yet the people of Kashmir have not been included to make it a tri-party negotiations but all indications are that when the fate of the disputed territory comes up for discussion they would be brought in.
The Congress government under Manmohan Singh would have to be mindful of the public opinion in India. Fortunately the extremist fire eating Hindu groups have cooled down considerably because their party BJP under the leadership of revered Vajpayee changed the direction from war to peace. Some hawks amongst them may still be hesitant but they are in a minority. It is difficult to speculate on the final outcome of the ongoing peace process as Kashmir conundrum is not easy to solve. Apart from it the estrangement between India and Pakistan is of long standing dating back to independence in 1947.
On the eve of the British departure the Hindus of the sub-continent were looking forward to gain suzerainty over the whole of their native land "Bharatmata" after a lapse of some 700 years during which they were subjugated by Muslim and Christian-foreign invaders. It was therefore, a heartbreaking disappointment when the sizeable minority of Muslims distrusting the brute majority of the Hindus demanded a separate state of their own in India and the British conceded. Originally Pakistan was supposed to be a confederation of the then existing Muslim majority provinces in the west and east of British India. But in the end Congress' ill conceived obstinacy to frustrate the plan led to the necessity of breaking up the provinces and redemarcation of borders to give Pakistan truncated Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and NWFP in the west and half of Bengal in the east. The process of partition, therefore, became unwieldy and cumbersome causing a lot of grief to the people. Dividing lines being drawn arbitrarily gave impetus to transfer of population. The trickles soon became an uncontrollable flood of exodus from both sides leading to riots and looting which unfortunately climaxed into bloodshed and massacre unprecedented in the history of the sub-continent. The wounds thus inflicted have been difficult to heal and created an unbridgeable gulf between the two countries. On the Pakistan side the climate of distrust was further compounded when Nehru's chicanery deprived us of Kashmir by surreptiously prevailing upon the ruler to accede to India. Ever since it has remained a bone of contention. It was all the doings of the Congress and, therefore, lack of faith in Pakistan, now that we are compelled to deal with them again.
Notwithstanding the above background there is no need to be disheartened. The times have changed, the leaders have changed and the people of both countries are sick and tired of the perpetual confrontation which has diverted resources needed for poverty alleviation to arms and ammunition. Now that India and Pakistan have become nuclear powers, the realization has dawned that any future war would be mutually destructive and must be ruled out for all times to come. There can be no greater compulsion to resolve the differences peacefully. If there is a will, a way would be found to overcome the obstacles.