Overture a calculated gambit

BJP government aware of its 'rigid' image in the international community

The government's decision to offer a series of peace initiatives to normalise relations with Pakistan is part of a well-conceived and calculated gameplan. Government sources said there was nothing sudden about the moves.

The government was aware of a growing perception in a section of the international community that India had shut all doors on Pakistan.

Pakistan had been attempting to get diplomatic mileage from India's position, which even some friendly nations described as "rigid".

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani had discussed the whole issue threadbare before the issue came up on the agenda of the CCS on Wednesday.

A government functionary said both the leaders decided to roll out peace initiatives, which could facilitate people-to-people contact between the nations without diluting India's position on the issue of cross-border-terrorism.

This was precisely the reason for the government's rejection of any dialogue unless Pakistan stopped cross-border terrorism.

"We have not changed our stance with regard to the talks," a government functionary said, adding that the peace initiatives were calculated to convince a section of the international community that was influenced by Pakistan's propoganda.

Sources in the government said given Pakistan's tendency to avoid people-to-people contact, it was unlikely that Pakistan would respond positively to the proposals.

"Pakistan will never allow running a bus from Srinagar to Muzaffarabad (Pakistan occupied Kashmir)," official sources said, adding that the train and road link between Rajasthan and Sindh and allowing a ferry service between Mumbai and Karachi would also not be acceptable to the Army in Pakistan.

The fact that the people of PoK have welcomed the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus link has already alarmed rulers in Islamabad, government sources say.

Meanwhile, in the face of a thundering silence from Isalamabad, several countries, including the US, the UK and China, welcomed India's unilateral gestures.

China said India and Pakistan should together sit and resolve their problems. Interestingly, at the same press conference held by the official Chinese spokesman, it was announced that Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf would pay his first visit to Beijing after the change in leadership in China, between 3 and 5 November. The first ever Sino-Pak naval exercises was held off the Pakistan coast on October 21.

While announcing the peace initiatives for Pakistan, the CCS' move to appoint Advani as principal interlocutor for talks with separatist conglomerate Hurriyat Conference is intended to engaged the Hurriyat leaders in bilateral negotiations.

Though the government still views a substantial section of the Hurriyat leadership as a proxy for Pakistan, the government leadership is in favour of holding negotiations and weaning moderates away from the conglomerate.

Sources view as positive the Hurriyat leadership's insistence of holding tripartite talks (with Pakistan as the third party) to resolve the Kashmir dispute.

The decision to appoint Advani as principal interlocutor is designed to bestow relevance on the moderate section of the Hurriyat leadership, sources point out. The DPM's approach to talks will be to "play it by ear".

At the same time, Advani is learnt to have rejected the idea of scrapping the NN Vora Committee whose task is to hold talks with elected representatives of people of Jammu and Kashmir and set out a roadmap for resolution of the problem.

"Vora will continue his job which is different from Advani's," government sources say.