Daily Times

In his eight years of prime ministership, Dr Manmohan Singh has visited almost all important countries except Pakistan, which is the most important country from any point of view for India. During the successful visit by the Indian foreign minister, S M Krishna to Islamabad in September 2012, Pakistan once again extended an invitation to the Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. Regarding this, as to all past invitations, India has been haggling and maintains that let there be a significant breakthrough, only then the visit to Pakistan would take place.

In India, many opinions have been expressed and suggestions have been given by the ‘experts’ on Pakistan about the visit of the Indian prime minister to Pakistan .Even in Pakistan various opinions have been expressed over this issue. In both countries a few wish that he should visit, but many do not. Dr Singh himself has expressed a wish to visit Pakistan subject to a positive breakthrough in the bilateral relationship between the two countries. No one knows what breakthrough he desires and on what sort of a platform he needs to pay his maiden visit to Pakistan. His cabinet ministers have already built up a good platform and have set up a proper stage for his visit to Islamabad. Dr Singh must be aware of the theory that it is the responsibility of the bigger power to take bold steps in order to improve bilateral ties between two asymmetrical powers.

Historically, whenever the head of states from India and Pakistan paid a visit to one another’s country, they managed to achieve something significant, if not very important. Although those achievements could not resolve major conflicts between them, they were still effective enough to tackle intermediate tensions. A few mutual agreements between them opened ways to move further in their relationship and until today, successfully guide their bilateral relationship. Of course, many were not successful because the perpetrators of enmity successfully managed to derail the process, messing up the achievements.

On April 8, 1950, the Nehru-Liaquat pact was signed between Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Liaquat Ali Khan, after six-day talks between the two prime ministers in New Delhi. According to the pact, the two countries agreed to provide security and rights to their minorities and avert another war between them. This pact had its effect on the ongoing partition-related religious genocide. Pandit Nehru’s meeting with Mohammad Ali Bogra and then with Ghulam Ishaq Khan helped to make advances in talks over Indus water sharing, which culminated in 1960. Pandit Nehru went to Karachi and signed the Indus Water Treaty with General Ayub Khan. Then, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s visit to Simla after the 1971 war had given new shape to India-Pakistan disputes. The two countries agreed to move away from the United Nations’ mediated solutions to bilateral efforts to sort out the Kashmir issue; the ceasefire line of 1948 was transformed into the Line of Control too. Then Rajiv Gandhi’s visit to Islamabad and his meeting with Benazir Bhutto led to the two countries agreeing to share information about each other’s nuclear installations. Lastly, Atal Bihari Vajpayee paid a visit to Pakistan, after the two countries conducted nuclear tests in 1998. He invited the then Pakistani prime minister, Mian Nawaz Sharif for a comprehensive dialogue on all pending issues. Bus service between New Delhi and Lahore was started to strengthen people-to-people contact.

As it has been mentioned, the perpetrators had scuttled the process and often, political leaderships had been blamed for the work carried out by hate-mongers. Ms Bhutto after her meeting and signing of pact with Mr Gandhi was dubbed as a ‘security risk’ by the Pakistan army. Then Mr Vajpayee’s visit to Kargil was cancelled due to an internal power tussle between the Pakistan army and the civilian government. In India, Prime Minister Vajpayee was politically attacked for his bold steps and peace talks with Pakistan.

These are darker sides and bound to happen because of the 65 years of a vicious relationship between the two countries. The present leadership has to decide whether they want to move up or would like to remain under the shadow of the past. Post-Mumbai, step-by-step, engagement between the two countries is a sign that they want to move ahead. In his messages and speeches, Dr Singh has always expressed his hope for a peaceful and prosperous Pakistan. His message and spirit need tangible evidence. In addition, the platform that Dr Singh has at present is perhaps what no other Indian prime minister had. If he thinks his visit will not do anything positive then he is wrong because politics is the art of the possible and about taking calculated risks. His visit may not lead to getting a ‘breakthrough, but it will certainly do something good to cement the ties between the two countries. His visit will be a reward to his government’s policy of peaceful engagement with Pakistan.

The writer is an assistant professor (guest) at the South Asian Studies School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. He can be reached at amitranjan.jnu@gmail.com