NEW DELHI: “Jab mian biwi raazi to kya karega kazi” – this folksy idiom was used by the MEA spokesperson to indicate that both countries were determined to hold the deferred foreign secretary-level talks in the “very near future”, so that the “shadow” of the Pathankot terror attack does not loom large as it does now.
Stressing that New Delhi and Islamabad had jointly agreed to defer the talks, India welcomed the recent action against Jaish-e-Mohammed members and agreed to the proposal for a special investigation team from Pakistan. Showing off their coordinated moves, both foreign offices had the same answer on the arrest of JeM leader Maulana Masood Azhar – “no confirmation”. The postponement by “mutual consent” came just a day before Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar would have sat down around a table in Islamabad with his counterpart Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhary, to draw up a schedule for the Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue. The first implicit indication was from the Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson. Talking to reporters, he said that both “countries are in contact to firm up the date of meeting between the two foreign secretaries.”
This was a virtual admission that the two senior diplomats would not meet on Friday.
India made this official at the MEA’s weekly briefing, where the spokesperson began by appreciating the statement issued after the high-level meeting chaired by Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday morning.
“Foreign Secretary spoke to his counterpart and agreed to reschedule their meeting to the very near future,” he said. Referring to the Pakistan government’s statement, Swarup said that there was “considerable progress” in the investigations and “noted the apprehension of JeM members.” He described the action against JeM as “an important and positive first step”. But, when asked about the arrest of Masood Azhar, he reiterated that there was no confirmation and parried several questions on whether India was linking the arrest of the jihadi leader to the Foreign Secretary-level talks.
Sources said that there was a belief in Indian government circles that the report of Azhar’s arrest was a balloon released by certain vested quarters in Pakistan to derail the talks. If India had taken the bait, sources stated, then it would have meant a new redline from a sincere investigation and action by Pakistan into the main actors of the Pathankot terror attack to a single-point demand for Azhar behind bars. This would mean that the FS talks would certainly not have taken place at all. It was the Prime Minister’s decision to postpone the decision on the talks from Wednesday night till after the arrival of NSA Ajit Doval. “This was done so that he could speak directly to his counterpart (Nasir Janjua) after he returned to Delhi and assessed the steps taken by Pakistan,” said sources. Doval arrived on Thursday morning from Paris, spoke to Janjua and then met with PM, together with Sushma Swaraj and foreign secretary S Jaishankar. It was after that meeting that Jaishankar spoke over phone to his Pakistani counterpart to tie up all the loose-ends. It has been two days of to-and-fro for the Indian government as it hoped to salvage the comprehensive bilateral dialogue, with the Prime Minister having a personal stake in its success after his gamble to engage with Pakistan. Swarup said that India “looked forward” to the visit of the specially-constituted Pakistan Special Investigation Team. However, to a question of whether the team will be visiting the Indian Air Force, he deflected an answer, by saying that the modalities will be worked out.
He emphasised that Pakistan’s actions were only “first steps” and that India expected more news in the coming days. “We will go by what objective evidence we see on ground not empty statements. So far what Pakistan has done we welcome… We hope they will continue with these efforts,” he said. When asked why the talks could not be held as scheduled if India was satisfied with Pakistan, Swarup asserted that a possible reason was that the two FS wanted to meet “beyond the shadow of Pathankot”.