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Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf (R) greets Laloo Prasad Yadav, Indian lawmaker and former chief minister of the Indian state of Bihar, during a meeting with Indian lesgislators at President’s House in Islamabad August 12, 2003. Musharraf, speaking after meeting lawmakers from India, called on Tuesday for ceasefires along the Line of Control separating the nuclear rivals in the disputed Kashmir region. REUTERS

The outlook for India-Pakistan relations has undergone an improvement that raises hopes that the confrontation mode that began shortly after the 9/11 events may give way to joint endeavours for better ties. It may be recalled that the two countries were set to pick up the Agra process in September 2001, when the terrorist attacks on the US took place. The Indian leadership apparently decided that with the global focus on terrorism, they could exploit the situation to their advantage by accusing Pakistan of support to terrorism.

When Pakistan joined the Coalition against Terrorism, the effort to get Pakistan declared a terrorist state did not succeed. However, India still held Pakistan responsible for some terrorist incidents in India and concentrated its forces on the Pakistan border from December 2001, terminating communication links, and reducing the level of diplomatic representation.

Pakistan took a series of actions to control religious extremism, and in the meantime kept pressing for the resumption of dialogue. It took India almost a year to end the concentrations on the borders and along the LoC in Kashmir. However, in the meantime, India also virtually kept regional cooperation under the auspices of SAARC on hold. The SAARC summit due to be held in Islamabad in January 2003 had to be cancelled owing to lack of assurance about Indian participation.

The positive trend in the relations between India and Pakistan started when Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee announced in Srinagar on April 18, that India was ready to resume the dialogue with Pakistan. This statement, made just as the US Deputy Secretary of State Armitage was starting on a visit to South Asia to promote a dialogue, drew a prompt welcome from the Pakistani Prime Minister, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali.

Progress towards the resumption of the dialogue has been slow, mainly on account of India's insistence that Pakistan has to end "cross-border terrorism" before such resumption.

A slow process has been set in motion to normalize relations, with both countries sending back High Commissioners, and resuming the communication links severed in December 2001. The bus service was resumed on 11 July, with the first arrivals receiving an unprecedented welcome at the popular level. Talks to discuss resumption of overflights will be held soon. People to people contacts have been resumed, and apart from groups of parliamentarians, businessmen are stepping up contacts, raising hopes of increase in trade.

Perhaps the most significant decision announced after April was that by the Foreign Secretaries of the SAARC countries, meeting in Kathmandu on 10 July, that the 12th Summit of SAARC would be held in Islamabad from January 4 to 6, 2004. The Indian Foreign Secretary, Kernel Sibyl, who also stated that the meeting would take up a proposal for a Free Trade area among SAARC countries, personally announced the decision.

Mr. Sibal, in his off the cuff remarks, expressed the view that Pakistan was proceeding at a very slow speed to develop economic links in the SAARC framework. If the history of initiatives to promote dialogue and cooperation over the past three to four years were compiled, it would be seen that Pakistan has displayed greater keenness. Even at a time the armies were confronting each other, Pakistan gave the green light for an oil pipeline from Iran to India through Pakistan, backed by guarantees that supplies would not be interrupted. India at that time showed lack of interest.

Despite the promise behind the initiative by Mr. Vajpayee last April to resume the dialogue; India is laying stringent conditions on the prerequisite of an end to "cross-border terrorism" before the dialogue can be resumed. The proposals by Pakistan to increase international observers along the LoC to monitor infiltration have been rejected.

However, Pakistan is not sticking to any pre-conditions of its own, though it would prefer that a comprehensive agenda be adopted for the dialogue along the lines agreed between the two countries in 1997.

Pakistan has shown readiness to go along with the preferences India is displaying for the process of improving ties, and will be prepared to follow a step by step approach. At the same time, durable peace and mutually beneficial cooperation can be achieved only if all outstanding issues are addressed, including Kashmir.

Till the SAARC Summit next January, there will be a series of preparatory meetings and consultations. Even though the SAARC forum will not facilitate a political dialogue by itself, the very getting together of the top leaders will help create an atmosphere conducive to dialogue, as the Pakistan Foreign Minister Khursheed Mahmud Kasuri stated. Since April, we are at the start of a new phase of bilateral relations that can usher in good-neighbourly ties, provided there is a genuine effort by leadership from both sides.

Judging from the popular response of the people in the two countries, they appear keen that the transition to friendship and cooperation can be maintained. The government and people of Pakistan would certainly not be found wanting in resolve to maintain the momentum towards durable peace and prosperity to a region that contains one fifth of the human race, including nearly half of the world's poorest people.

The international community has welcomed this new phase of India-Pakistan relations and would like to see more speedy progress towards normalization between the nuclear neighbours. The positive effects of such normalization would be felt in the shape of economic benefits in the adjoining regions of West, Central and South East Asia. South Asia would be the principal beneficiary if SAARC could take off as an instrument for cooperation and development.

(Dr. Maqbool Ahmed Bhatty is a retired diplomat of Pakistan and has served as Ambassador to several countries including China.)