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Huge turnaround in Havana

India and Pakistan make an effort to put the derailed peace process back on track.

  • Gulf News
  • Published: 00:00 September 18, 2006
  • Gulf News

As an instrument to insulate the India-Pakistan peace process, it's a masterstroke. In Havana, the two leaders trotted out an anti-terror institutional mechanism which allows both to step away from the public blame game that inevitably follows terror attacks while creating a perfect forum to air concerns privately but formally, without derailing the peace process.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh went further to say there was no proof Pakistan was behind the Mumbai blasts and that terror networks in that country operate outside President General Pervez Musharraf's control, posing as much of a threat to India, as they do to Musharraf's person. This is a huge turnaround. Not only will stalled bilateral talks resume, but the joint statement, issued after the hour-long one-on-one meeting on Saturday afternoon, states that Jammu and Kashmir will be resolved 'sincerely'.

It will silence criticism at home that India is dragging its feet. In turn, Pakistan's condemnation of the blasts assuages Singh's restive domestic constituency. This Non-Aligned Meeting in Cuba may be a welcome change from the New York freeze on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly last year. But it's also a pointer to both, they must give terrorists less of an excuse to wreak havoc at will.

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