The much anticipated Hockey World Cup match between arch-rivals India and Pakistan on Sunday in New Delhi will have a clear cut outcome, but today’s talks between foreign secretaries of the two countries will neither have a clear cut winner nor is there much anticipation behind it.

The two sides will be represented by India’s Nirupama Rao and Pakistan’s Salman Bashir.
This will be the first official dialogue between the two countries since the November 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people.
However, after a spate of violence in the Indian and Pakistani-administered parts of Kashmir, the recent bomb attack in Pune, and a series of other misgivings, resumption of talks is a good news.
Indian Minister of External Affairs S.M. Krishna insists that terrorism should be the core of the talks, while Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has stated that Islamabad wants to continue the “Composite Dialogue,” which includes other key issues like Kashmir and water.
The Composite Dialogue started in 2004 when India and Pakistan agreed on a “road map” for comprehensive peace negotiations to normalize relations after half a decade of confrontation over Kashmir. The major issues in this dialogue include Kashmir and water. The two countries have fought two wars over Kashmir.
The fifth round of the Composite Dialogue was held on Sept. 24, 2008, two months before the Mumbai terror attacks.
Terrorism
The Mumbai terrorist attack of November 2008, when gunmen killed 166 people in a gruesome rampage in India’s financial capital, has been attributed to the Lashkar-e Taiba. The militant group still operates freely in Pakistan and some Indian officials claim Pakistan has done nothing about the Mumbai attacks.
Foreign Minister Qureshi himself was in New Delhi at the time of the Mumbai attacks and extended his stay in order to answer questions from the Indian journalists and clarify the situation.
Some analysts believe that the Mumbai attacks occurred during the early stages of the formation of a civilian government in Pakistan. Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan in October 2007 to fight the elections but she was assassinated by December.
During the time of the Mumbai attack Pakistan was still suffering from a vacuum of political leadership. Probably Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) took advantage of the loose footing of the civil government and planned and conducted the attacks.
“Indeed, the first and foremost prerequisite for a meaningful dialogue is that Pakistan stays the course of democracy,” says veteran journalist Irfan Parviz, who insists that at present there is the political will in the Zardari administration for the resumption of talks.
In the recent past Pakistan has suffered from a spate of bombings mainly in the northwestern parts of the country where the military offensive against the Taliban strongholds started last year. However, recent attacks in Karachi and Lahore have caused public outrage.
So, as far as terrorism is concerned it is a common problem between the two countries.
The issue of Kashmir has been going on since the independence of the two nuclear rivals in 1947. Resumption to the Composite Dialogue is essential but not a pressing issue at the moment.
A course of democracy in Kashmir is a necessary prerequisite in order to have peace in the region. It should be the Kashmiris who should be allowed to determine their own future eventually. That can only happen when India and Pakistan have established mutual trust.
Leaders acquainted
Although there have been no bilateral talks since the Mumbai attacks but the leaders of the two countries have met. In an interview with the Financial Times President Asif Ali Zardari said that he “met prime minister (Manmohan) Singh in Yekaterinburg, in June 2009. Later Prime Minister Yousaf Reza Gilani met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at Sharm el-Sheikh on July 16. Both leaders have reaffirmed the desire to improve bilateral relations.”
According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, India’s Nirupama Rao and Pakistan’s Salman Bashir won’t need any formal introduction, as both were posted as ambassadors in Beijing, where they struck a cordial relationship.
The political will for better ties between the leaders of the two countries exist today and this opportunity must be seized. “Prime Minister Gilani will meet Prime Minister Singh only when he has secured full support from the Pakistani establishment,” believes political analyst Gul Jammas Hussain.
A higher-level meeting, emanating from today’s meet, is indeed the best-case-scenario. Continued dialogue and improved relations is a win-win situation for everyone in the region and can only help stabilize the neighboring Afghanistan.
Although the general public might remain apathetic about the re-start of the talks and its slow pace of progress but my bet is that the India-Pakistan hockey game will bring a lot of crowd and the game’s pace will keep the audience breathless.-