By IANS,
Islamabad : There is nothing to mourn and “hardly anything to rejoice” over the meeting between the Pakistan and Indian foreign secretaries in Thimphu, said a leading Pakistani daily.
An editorial in the Dawn Tuesday said: “There is nothing to mourn, just as there is hardly anything to rejoice about the outcome of Sunday’s meeting in Thimphu between the Pakistani and Indian foreign secretaries.”
While stating that Pakistani Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir did not refer to Kashmir and Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao refrained from raising the terrorism issue, it said their pledge to continue talking is a “cliche”.
“Neither side seems to have made a determined attempt in the aftermath of Mumbai (terror attack in 2008) to break the ice.”
It said that the “laconic” joint statement itself doesn’t speak of any resolve on the part of the two countries to proceed with talks.
The editorial said the foreign ministers last meeting in Islamabad had been “a disaster from which the two foreign offices have not recovered”.
“The S.M. Qureshi-S.M.Krishna meeting fell victim to the (Indian home secretary G.K.) Pillai affair, with Qureshi complaining that the Indian side had come unprepared and was relying on phone calls from New Delhi for a brief. On Sunday, Bashir and Rao obviously failed to agree on the date and venue for their bosses to meet.
“An invitation from Krishna is there, and Qureshi responded to it in positive terms. But again, going by Sunday’s outcome, they are unlikely to meet in the near future. In short, the deadlock persists.”
The editorial wrapped up saying that “one wonders whether the fond hopes the two foreign secretaries have expressed will be translated into action – whether they themselves will meet again and if they will be able to remove the obstacles in the way of a purposeful restart of talks, even with a restricted agenda”.
“The possibility of the two governments having the wisdom to resume the now forgotten composite dialogue that began in Islamabad in February 2004 appears remote.”