Peace With Pakistan

Perhaps one of the biggest planks for the BJP led National Democratic Aliance to stand on in this election is the current good relations with Pakistan. This key issue hangs in the balance given its fickle nature and is being showcased by the BJP as one of the major achievements of the party and Vajpayee. It has also become a moot point whether the success in Islamabad will actually translate into votes.

The recently concluded SAARC summit in Islamabad was historic, with leaders of both India and Pakistan addressing the core issues affecting relations between the two countries. India agreed to talk about Kashmir, and Pakistan promised India that it will ensure that the terrorist infrastructure within the country is dismantled. The two countries also agreed to initiate a composite dialogue that has gone a long way in defusing tensions.

Cricket = Peace ?

In March this year India's cricketers made a 40-day tour of Pakistan, their first in 14 years. India and Pakistan may have many differences but our peoples share a common love for cricket. About 8,000 Indian fans travelled to Pakistan for the series, and hundreds of millions watched the matches on television. While players on both sides have been playing down the political significance of the series, the hope is it can spur the fragile peace process between the two countries

Peace vs. War as a Unifying Factor

While the agreement at the SAARC summit is historic, it does not carry the pan-Indian nationalistic appeal of unifying voters the way it turned out in the October 1999 elections soon after the Kargil conflict - a short but bloody military exchange with Pakistan over Kashmir.

It will take just one terrorist strike in India from across the border to undo all the good work at SAARC. Also going further ahead in trying to make the composite dialogue process a success may be fraught with risks for the party. In such a situation, should the BJP go to the people brandishing Vajpayee's success at Islamabad that could yet turn out to be based on such tenuous grounds?

There are also opinions within the BJP that espouse the view that going the whole hog on Indo-Pak relations may actually be detrimental to the party's poll prospects.

Chronology of the India-pakistan Peace Initiative so far..

May 2nd ,2003: India, Pakistan decide to send back high commissioners, restore civil aviation links.

June 30th: Pakistan High Commissioner-designate Aziz Ahmed Khan arrives in India

July 11th: Delhi-Lahore-Delhi bus service restored, a day after the Pakistani envoy presents his credentials.

August 9th: Indian High Commissioner Shivshankar Menon presents his credentials, marking restoration of full diplomatic ties between the two countries.

October 22nd: India proposes a series of confidence-building measures -- air and rail links, bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad and ferry service between Mumbai and Karachi.

Nov. 23rd: Pakistan announces unilateral ceasefire along LoC

Nov. 24th: India welcomes Pakistan's announcement and proposes its extension to Siachen.

Jan 6th, 2004: Vajpayee and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf agree on the sidelines of the Saarc summit in Islamabad to commence a composite dialogue process in February to resolve all issue, including Jammu and Kashmir. Musharraf assures Vajpayee that territory under Pakistan's control will not be permitted to support terrorism.

February 18th: Indian and Pakistani foreign secretaries meet in Islamabad and finalise details of the composite dialogue process to be held after the Indian general election.

March 11: The `Samsung Cup' cricket series between India and Pakistan begins

Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee has said that the two countries could solve their problems together and India had made it clear to Pakistani rulers that war would not benefit either country.