From trade to Sir Creek, Zardari pilgrimage thaws India-Pak ties

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday rescued Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s desire to return to the country of his birth from being buried in the dustbin of coalition politics by inviting him to visit Pakistan before the end of this year.

The Prime Minister, hosting Zardari over lunch, accepted the invitation but refused to commit himself to a deadline, saying he would be “very happy to visit at a mutually convenient time”.

Zardari’s pilgrimage in India, to pay obeisance at the shrine of Sufi saint Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer, lasted less than 24 hours but it has quickened the pace of the India-Pakistan dialogue that has been languishing since the Mumbai terror attacks of November 2008.

As they addressed the media, it seemed as if the horrible shadow of the Mumbai attacks lifted for a bit. “Relations between India and Pakistan should become normal,” said Manmohan Singh, while Zardari, whose decision to go to Ajmer could change the course of India-Pakistan relations, responded, “I am grateful to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for inviting me to lunch.”

Over lunch, as well as during their nearly 40-minute conversation without aides, both leaders discussed a little bit of all the issues that are of signal importance to their respective audiences: Hafiz Saeed and movement on the perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attacks, the Sir Creek maritime border, Siachen, Kashmir, trade and economic diplomacy, as well as a liberalised visa regime.

Both leaders agreed the Sir Creek maritime border issue was eminently doable, considering both had agreed to the principle of the median to fix the maritime border some years ago. Moreover, the fact that Pakistan interior minister Rehman Malik and home minister P Chidambaram broke bread together over lunch on Sunday means both ministers will be forced, however unwillingly, to show movement on a liberalised business and regular visa trading regime during a scheduled meeting of the two home secretaries later this month.

The business visa regime has been finalised and ready since December 2011, but a visit by the Indian home secretary to Pakistan was blocked by Rehman Malik because he wanted to come to India first, but Chidambaram was not keen. The Zardari visit has forced both sides to move on.

In fact, apart from meeting his Cabinet as well as army chief Ashfaq Kayani the day before he came to India, Zardari also met a delegation of the Lahore chamber of commerce and sought to dispel their fears about Indian goods flooding Pakistan, the Express Tribune newspaper reported.

In the coming week, Pakistan commerce minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim is arriving in Delhi  to not only inaugurate the first-ever “lifestyle exhibition” that Pakistan is doing in India, but also to finalise the process of opening the bilateral trading relationship expected to culminate in Pakistan giving Most Favoured Nation status to India and India reciprocating by significantly pruning its “sensitive list” for Pakistan, so that tariffs are lowered on several goods.

According to official sources, India is willing to open the gates if Pakistan takes serious action against the Mumbai terror accused, such as, delivering their voice samples to India and bringing them to justice. In fact, India seems willing to lift the ban on Indian investment in Pakistan and vice-versa

Still, it was Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the 23-year-old son and chairman of the Pakistan People's Party, who stole the show with his charm and openness. “India, peace be with you,” he tweeted as soon as his father’s aircraft landed at Palam airport. Bilawal was conspicuous by his presence behind his father and Manmohan Singh when they jointly addressed the media this afternoon.

Still, Manmohan Singh described the tenor of the Zardari visit best when he said today that although both countries had a “number of issues” on the agenda, the fact remained that both were “willing to find a practical, pragmatic solution”.