Editorial
Signs of sanity
India and Pakistan should focus more on confidence building
THE exchange of information on nuclear installations and facilities between bitter South Asian neighbours India and Pakistan certainly comes as a welcome relief for the people in this region. It is not a major development in that sense, though. The two countries are required by a 1991 agreement "to exchange on the first working day of every year information on their nuclear installations and facilities". Even last year, during the biggest build-up along the frontier in 15 years after the attack on the Indian parliament, New Delhi and Islamabad exchanged the lists. However, this time around, the renewal of commitment not to attack each other's nuclear installations and facilities, which the exchange of information effectively means, has a soothing undertone. More so because of the recent withdrawal of hundreds of thousands of troops from the Indo-Pak border, who had been deployed since the attack on the Indian parliament in December 2001.
With the border tension de-escalated to a great extent and both governments still committed to a decade-old agreement, there are reasons to hope that the bitter nuclear rivals may be ready to explore the avenues for talks, albeit for the time being. And this is the opportunity for the international community, especially the South Asian nations, to create an opening for the two to at least initiate a process of dialogue to resolve their differences. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee may still be reluctant to have an Indo-Pak summit after the bitter experience of Agra. General Pervez Musharraf, on the other hand, may not agree to talk about anything but Kashmir. However, for regional peace and stability, it is imperative that the two leaders do have a tête-à-tê
te. It would have been ideal if the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) could prepare the ground. Unfortunately, the 13th SAARC summit, scheduled for January in Islamabad, fell by the wayside because of the Indo-Pak hostilities. Nevertheless, the recent de-escalation opens up the opportunity to get the SAARC process back in motion. Hopefully, the SAARC Secretariat would not let it slip.
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