'India, Pakistan must continue talks at all levels'

India and Pakistan should continue talks at all levels, they should never talk out of fear but should never fear talk. As neighbours, they have no option but to be sensitive towards each other which will not be possible unless they take cognisance of the core issues.

The above consensus emerged during a discussion organised by Ananta Aspen Centre on the theme 'India-Pakistan Relations' moderated by well-known panellist Karan Thapar, where the participants were former high commissioners of Pakistan to India and India to Pakistan - K. Shankar Bajpai, Salman Bashir, Satish Chandra, Aziz Ahmad Khan, Humayun Khan, Riaz H. Khokhar, S.K. Lambah, Shahid Malik, Shivshankar Menon, Satyabrata Pal, G. Parthasarathy, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, T.C. A. Raghavan, Sharat Sabharwal, and K. Natwar Singh.

Speaking on the future of India-Pakistan relationship, Qazi said, "We are living in interesting times. The relationship between India and Pakistan has never been incident free. We are at a crossroad, where we don't know whether the relations will progress forward or regress, as has happened in the past. In such a situation it is important to restore trust."

In the context of Pathankot terror attack and recent visit of Pakistan's Joint Investigation Team which led to a lot of uproar in India, Menon said, "We are getting mixed signals from Pakistan since Pathankot. It is very early to say what Islamabad's stance is on the incident. On a positive note, there exists the potential to move things forward on it, provided the political will exists. But, there is the broader question of terrorism that looms large. Scope for both sides to progress will only be possible if only there is political will."

On questions of the sudden arrest of an alleged Indian spy, Kulbhushan Jadhav, Bashir said, "Contact between the NSAs helps contain explosion of incidents like Pathankot. In the case of Kulbhushan Jadhav both sides should cooperate in the investigation. More communication on such incidents is in the interest of both the countries. It is imperative for both India and Pakistan to be satisfied with the ongoing investigation."

Parthasarathy agreed with his Pakistani counterparts that "espionage should never become a cover for terrorism." "The public opinion at present is not in favour of Pakistan. People have had enough of terrorism. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has no political space to move. Hence, it is in our interest to keep talks away from the glare of media. Let the intelligence chiefs and DGMOs meet," he added.

Lambah was of the view that "despite the popular disappointment over the perceived failure of the recent Foreign Secretary talks, the fact that they met is important as there was no contact since the Pathankot incident." "On the way forward," he said, "dialogue with Pakistan cannot make progress unless we have peace on the border, no terrorism, an early resolution of 26/11 trials and punishing the guilty, be they state or non-state actors."

Khan differed with his colleagues on the question of civil-military relations in Pakistan: "Army plays an important role in Pakistani politics. They have been successful in security its people, and hence, have a say in national security policymaking.