India and Pakistan yesterday exchanged accusations while acknowledging that they had failed to make any progress at all on how to resume the dialogue on contentious issues. Pakistan said Idia was ``rigid and inflexible'' and had ``resiled'' from agreements on how to conduct their dialogue. India responded with talk of ``hostile and inimical activities such as the promotion and abetment of terrorism practiced by Pakistan against India.''
Asked whether the talks had ``broken down,'' however, the official spokesperson for Pakistan's foreign ministry said there had been ``no progress so far'' but that international involvement might be needed. India once again ruled that out. Jammu and Kashmir was an integral part of India, said Foreign Secretary K Raghunath.
The summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation had barely ended yesterday afternoon when the Pakistanis addressed the media.
The Indian foreign office - galvanishd for once after it heard of the plan for a Pakistani press conference late the previous night - responded soon after.
In a rare departure from his wont, Raghunath agreed to speak to the media on the record, and used uncharacteristically direct words.
The Pakistani spokesperson quibbled about the two prime minister's declaration on Wednesday that they had decided to resume the dialogue. Vajpayee had ``unilaterally'' announced it he said. Sharif had only said that they had decide to resume the dialogue ``at the next available opportunity.''
Adept at striking persuasive postures in public, the Pakistanis reeled off proposals for ``confidence building measures in Jammu and Kashmir'' in a diplomatic non-paper.
These included strengthening the UN observers' group on both sides, with regular reports to the Security Council, and the ``recognition of All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) as legitimate Kashmiri representative.
Other proposals included the release of Kashmiri detainees, removal of Indian army pickets and the phased reduction of Indian trops from what the spokesperson called ``Indian held Kashmir'' and the cessation of search and arrest operations.
Raghunath dismissed these proposals as ``interference in our internal affairs.'' They were ``not realistic, not the way to proceed, full stop,'' he said, adding that he was using ``very moderate language.'' He said India was ``looking for a meaningful dialogue proceess'' and that it was ``a legal, juridical reality that Kashmir is a part of India.''
Asked about Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's suggestion for an initiative to resolve bilateral disputes within SAARC, Raghunath said ``the best way of destroying SAARC is to introduce an element of contention into it.'' Collective discussions would only further complicate issues, he held. SAARC chairperson Chandrika Kumaratunga, the President of Sri Lanka, had earlier told a press conference that the suggestion had come too late for it to be included in the Colombo declaration. Se and the declaration reiterated the seven nations' commitment to the SAARC charter,w hich prohibits bilateral issues. The Pakistani spokesperson, however, said he hoped the proposal would provide the basis for reorienting SAARC along ``more pragmatic and realistic lines.'' The Pakistani statement concentrated on the need to concentrate on peace and security and Kashmir. Particularly after the recent nuclear tests, he said, ``the entire international community has been looking for a serious consideration'' of the isses. India was averse to the mention of the phrase ``peace and security,'' he added.
Raghunath, on the other hand, explained that the traditional Indo-Pak dialogue and ``the usual pattern of inter-state relations'' was to address ``the totality of the relationship.'' He also held that ``a narrow segmented approach is inherently flawed.''
