Tough time for Indian PM
Indian Congress chief Sonia Gandhi has muscularly backed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the issue of the Indo-Pak joint statement and told party men that there should be no confusion or misunderstanding on it among them. She also said that India's foreign policy vis-à-vis Pakistan has not changed. "Till Pakistan shows concrete steps on anti-terror front there is no point of dialogue," she told a Congress Parliamentary Party meeting, a day after the Prime Minister addressed Parliament on the issue of the joint statement with Pakistan in Egypt.
India’s prime minister told a fiery parliament that he would continue to try and improve ties with Pakistan, a sign the government was looking to move towards resuming a stalled peace dialogue with Islamabad. “I sincerely believe it is our obligation to keep the channels of communication open (with Pakistan),” Manmohan Singh said in an address to legislators. “Unless we talk directly to Pakistan we will have to rely on a third party to do so... Unless you want to go to war with Pakistan, there is no way, but to go step-by-step... dialogue and engagement are the best way forward,” Singh said. Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh was criticized by both treasury and opposition benches for his recent foreign policy initiatives, including the joint India-Pakistan statement. Singh’s move was slammed by opposition leaders as diluting India’s stand that linked a resumption of peace talks with Pakistan acting against the planners of the attack. Singh’s new Pakistan policy has been viewed even within a section of his Congress party as risky in India where distrust of its neighbour runs deep and any concession is viewed with suspicion. But some experts say Singh’s move was not really surprising given the strong election victory of his party in May which gave the government a freer hand to deal with Pakistan. Mr. Singh also argued before the parliament that the former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had also opened dialogue with Pakistan after an attack on the Indian parliament. The forces of both countries were mobilized on borders, but Vajpayee traveled to Islamabad in January 2004, which followed a joint statement.
There is always cost of difficult diplomacy in the world, as far as the case of Indo-Pak diplomacy concerned, there is always heavy criticism followed by the very move taken by the either leadership. mistrust of 60 years have created such big avenues of doubt that even the honest move taken by the leadership of either side is criticized by and large. History has proved that there is no other way except dialogue and tolerating each others existence. The recent statement of Mr.Mukherji bears water that Indian cannot go ahead blindly, Pakistan is a big reality, one cannot ignore. It is also true in case of India; Pakistan cannot achieve its regional and global goals without understanding the regional importance of India. The only way to go ahead is dialogue. Though it is difficult to achieve derailed peace back on track, yet the only way is to go ahead amidst of criticism on both sides.
No more reckless statements In a welcome though delayed move, Prime Minister Gilani has told the Federal Ministers to stop issuing statements on important issues without getting clearance from the cabinet. Opposing stands by cabinet ministers have led government critics to observe that in the present administration one hand does not know what the other is doing. The Prime Minister, for instance, has condemned drone attacks and the Air Force Chief has said the country possesses the capability of downing this pilot less planes if a decision was taken by the political leadership. Defence Minister Ch Ahmad Mukhtar however observed not long ago that the country had no means to shoot them down. While Minister for Power Raja Pervaiz Ashraf is never tired of promising that load shedding would end by December 31, Federal Minister Khursheed Shah has contradicted him as many times.
There is a perception that the problem has been caused by the prevailing quasi-diarchy which has resulted in two centers of power. The malaise has actually gone much beyond as indicated by statements requiring revision of the CoD by the PPP Central Information Secretary. This has promoted a highly destabilizing perception that there are tensions between the President and Prime Minister. by stopping this practice ,PM has ordered a stitch in time to save the more contradictions on the part of cabinet and responsible persons running the government affairs.
