Christian Skaug Hvor styringsdyktig er Pakistan? Hvor rasjonelt opptrer myndighetene? Har de mål som er forenlige med vestlige stater og India? Møtet mellom Pakistans og Indias utenriksministre sist uke er et dårlig tegn.
Møtet var forberedt av diplomater i lang tid slik at det skulle bli effektivt og gi resultater. Partene kjente hverandres posisjoner. Likvel stilte Pakistan med helt nye krav: alle utestående alvorlige spørsmål skulle løses innen jul. Partene skulle forplikte seg til en tidsplan.
Dette kom som en stor skuffelse på India som anså tidsplanen for altfor ærgjerrig og urealistisk.
Pakistan’s attempt at ambush diplomacy during foreign minister SM Krishna’s visit to Islamabad led to the meeting’s failure. Indian sources say Pakistan sprung a proposal for fixed timelines to resolve all outstanding issues, including Kashmir, at the meeting. India rejected this «all or nothing» approach. Hours of negotiations later, the meeting ended
Diplomats of the two countries had carried out «painstaking preparations» for a number of confidence-building measures like the exchange of imprisoned fishermen and people-to-people movement across the Line of Control. These were expected to have been rolled out on Thursday in Islamabad.
Instead, Pakistan sprung a «trap». It proposed a fixed timeframe for solving all the eight issues of the composite dialogue, including Kashmir and terrorism. Pakistani foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, on Thursday, had spoken of timelines that concluded by November. India saw this as hopelessly impractical.«In diplomatic parley, we don’t go by timelines unless it is absolutely necessary,» said Krishna on his return to Delhi.
«I do not know what [Qureshi] means by a timebound solution to these problems. Given their complexity, it would not be prudent to insist on a timeframe.»
India ønsket å ta opp rettergangen mot lederne for Laskhar e-Taiba, gruppen som sto bak terrorangrepet på Mumbai 26/11 2008. Men Pakistan droppet hele Mumbai-etterforskningen.
