Posted by Animesh Roul on February 4, 2010. Filed under India, Pakistan, South Asia.

Finally, India has proposed a foreign secretary-level talk with Pakistan, in a remarkable departure of what Pakistan terms as traditional ‘inflexibility’. So a sign of thaw is apparent now. It has to be remembered that all bilateral engagements have been stalled between the two South Asian countries since the Nov 2008 Mumbai terror events. Among Pakistan’s best step forward is the acknowledgement of Lashkar-e-Taiba as the perpetrators of 26/11 Mumbai attacks. This one is a positive step taken by Pakistan in recent times.

On the sidelines of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SARRC) summit later this month, internal (Home) affairs ministers of both countries will meet in the garrison city of Rawalpindi (February 26- 27), which will pave the way for a much awaited meet between the foreign secretaries of the two countries. For obvious reasons, terrorism would be the prime focus of the meet, though the agendas of the proposed talks are yet to be confirmed. The latest ‘defreezing’ comes at a time when the bilateral ties between New Delhi and Islamabad are all time low with war of words from both sides virtually dominated the airwaves. Badly worded statements too became the order of the day which polluted the already tensed atmosphere. (e.g.  Pakistan’s Food Minister Nazar Muhammad Gondal’s statement mentioning that ‘Pakistan is ready to fight a war against India if India does not stop violations and obstruction of water flow’).

Pakistan wants the resumption of the all encompassing Composite Dialogue, but India is moving cautiously for now and wants to test the water before going for full fledged engagement that can address other bilateral disputes, including terrorism.