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Pakistans India policy in general and the Kashmir policy in particular suffers from basic drawbacks and may have run out of steam. There is an urgent need to revisit this policy and seek a fresh national consensus on its broad contours in light of the ground realities and the UN resolutions on the issue. India has been quick to exploit the general mood after 9/11, which blurred the lines differentiating between freedom struggles and terrorism. The various U-turns taken by General Musharraf during his stint in power proved destructive for the Kashmir cause. The various options presented by the military dictator for resolution of the Kashmir issue not only lacked support of Pakistans mainstream opinion but also flew in the face of the essence of the UN resolutions passed in 1948. They also failed to win any favourable concession from the Indian side as well.
Pakistani foreign secretary also failed to take up matters of serious concern for the country during the three sessions of talks with his Indian counterpart such as water dispute and its subversive activities in Balochistan and Afghanistan aimed at inciting unrest in Pakistan. If one had any doubts about the Indian intentions, her vetoing of the waiver at the World Trade Organization should be enough to get rid of this doubt. The European Union struck a deal with Pakistan after the devastating floods in 2010 which, under Generalised System of Preferences needed a country-specific waiver to come into effect. Indian that had been raising multiple objections to it finally vetoed it. Likewise, India also conveyed its objections to the Asian Development Bank over Pakistans efforts to seek international funding to build Diamer-Bhasha dam, which is so crucial for meeting Pakistans energy needs.
If India is really serious about pursuing peace with Pakistan, relatively less complex issues such as Sir Creek and Siachen have been waiting for resolution for a long time. The previous progress on these issues would definitely have prepared ground for resolution of these disputes thereby injecting fresh energy and meaning into the diplomatic engagement.
In the absence of any concrete achievement, can a process be sustainable? The past experience suggests to the contrary. A time soon comes when a small incident is able to de-track the entire engagement and dialogue. It is about time that the political leaderships of both countries revisited the composite dialogue framework and invested political capital in taking the process forward.