Balochistan Controversy

All eyes are now on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh when he makes a statement in Parliament on July 29, where he is expected to either justify or try to wriggle out of his decision to detach terror from the composite dialogue and allow a mention on the threat to Balochistan in the joint statement issued after his talks with Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in Egypt. Although Dr. Singh has denied differences with the Congress leadership over the joint statement and called it "media creation", the fact that he found it necessary to call a meeting at his residence attended by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, and the Home and Defence Ministers to explain what the Government has admitted as "bad drafting" of the joint statement, shows that there are no takers in his party on the Sharm-el-Sheikh goof up. When the Prime Minister came under attack from the Opposition in Parliament, the Congress leaders did not stand by him. The party spokesmen maintained silence saying they had nothing to say beyond what Dr. Singh has said in defence of the joint statement. The Congress leadership believes the decision to give Pakistan an escape route from the Mumbai attacks and agree to hold talks without Islamabad meeting the key requirements of India - to dismantle the terror infrastructure and take action against the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks - would not go well with the electorate especially in Maharashtra where Assembly elections are due to take place. The Opposition had pilloried the Government for what it described as a sell-out to Pakistan. Already the controversy has given the beleaguered BJP a new lease of life after its defeat ion the Lok Sabha elections.

It was reportedly decided at Congress Party deliberations that no matter what is prescribed in the joint statement, India is not going to restart a full composite dialogue with Pakistan. The engagement will not move beyond a "limited" exchange focused on terrorism till New Delhi is convinced not only of Islamabad's sincerity in taking action against the perpetrators of the previous attacks but also of its motivation to prevent attacks like the one that occurred in Mumbai.

Already, a new interpretation has been given to the joint statement by the Minister of State for External Affairs, Shashi Tharoor who said the Sharm-el-Sheikh statement was merely a diplomatic document with no "legally binding commitment" His words only seemed to reflect a wider unease in the Congress that India had given away too much.

The Congress's reservations on the joint statement are justified. The statement was an extraordinary document. Its contents, language and spirit are at odds with the sentiment sweeping India on the question of terrorism and Pakistan since the terrorist attack on Mumbailast November. After the Pak-directed massive explosion at the Indian Embassy in Kabul last July that was followed not long after by the outrage in Mumbai, India suspended the composite bilateral dialogue process with Pakistan. A condition was officially stipulated and reiterated at every opportunity, that the composite dialogue could be resumed only if Islamabad gave concrete proof of moving against who attacked Mumbai and of dismantling the infrastructure on Pakistani soil. None of this has come to pass. The Lahore Hight Court released the JuD chief and the mastermind behind the Mumbai attacks, Hafiez Saeed, and just when the two Prime Ministers were meeting in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Islamabad withdrew its appeal for the arrest of Hafiz in the Supreme Court. Since the November 26 attack, there has been impatience in India because of no Pakistani action against the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack. In such a situation to repose faith in Pakistan which has never stood by his words and has used the composite dialogue not to reach agreement on any of the eight contentious issues but to promote its own case on Kashmir, deciding to resume talks and delink then from Islamabad commitment on fighting terrorism was an unpardonable mistake.