By IANS,
New Delhi : Except for the symbolism attached to cricket diplomacy, nothing much should be expected from the meeting between the Indian and Pakistani prime ministers at Wednesday’s World Cup semifinal at Mohali, strategic affairs experts say.
Though the “hand of friendship” extended by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in inviting his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani to watch the match was “a small, but positive step”, experts warned that Islamabad may not give away much on New Delhi’s primary concern over cross-border terrorism, but could insist on Kashmir.
Former national security advisor Brajesh Mishra, who has often advocated a hawkish view vis-a-vis India-Pakistan relations, advises caution and calls the cricket diplomacy of the prime minister as a “futile” exercise.
“This (cricket diplomacy) is another futile effort. As far as Mohali is concerned, there is a lot of hoopla about it…excitement about it. But nothing is going to come out of it,” said Mishra, when asked if he expected anything significant from the meeting of the two prime ministers.
Coming down hard on Pakistan over terrorism, Mishra said unless it dismantled the terror infrastructure on its soil, there “is no point” in holding talks.
“That (dismantling terror camps) Pakistan is not willing to do. What have they done about the 26/11 terror attacks? In such a situation, what is the point in talking with them?” Mishra wondered.
“If India is willing to forget terrorism and go ahead for talks, Pakistan is only going to insist on Kashmir. After what happened in Islamabad in July last year when External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna was there and how his then counterpart Shah Mahmood Querishi behaved…by comparing Indian Home Secretary G.K. Pillai with Jammat-ulDawa’s Hafiz Saeed….what kind of talk are we having now,” he asked.
But there are others, who see a light at the end fo the tunnel in Manmohan Singh’s gesture.
Uma Singh, a Pakistan expert from the School of International Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), calls it “a small step, but a positive step.”
Uma Singh, however, said it was not right to “expect anything tangible” from these kind of short, brief meetings.
“Some kind of breakthrough has been made after what happened in the recent bilateral meetings such as the external affairs minister’s visit to Islamabad last year,” she said.
She said there was “a lot of hype” over cricket diplomacy and “optimism” due to the India-Pakistan match.
“It is quite a happy feeling that both prime ministers are to watch the match together. Even the home secretary level talks and its outcome has been quite satisfying,” she added.