It has been decided that India will not raise the issue of alleged 26/11 handler Zabiuddin Ansari during external affairs minister S.M. Krishna’s current meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar. New Delhi took this decision as investigations into the matter are still underway. Ansari was said to have been in the LeT’s control room in Karachi during the Mumbai attack. But Krishna will certainly raise the issue of the need for prompt trial of the perpetrators of the 26/11 massacre. Terrorism, especially cross-border terrorism, remains India’s main concern. Krishna is also not going to take up the objectionable ‘web content’ reportedly uploaded by internet users in Pakistan inciting violence against people from the Northeast over the Bodo-Muslim clashes in Assam. Evidence on this matter is also in the process of being put together. It may be recalled that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh did not discuss it in his talks with President Asif Ali Zardari at the NAM summit in Tehran.
So the talks look like being a formality. The focus will be on positives like increasing connectivity between the two countries. Flights between India and Pakistan reduced in the last four years but are expected to increase after the signing of the new visa agreement. Banking channels are expected to step up bilateral trade. Pakistan wishes its non-news TV channels to be aired in India. All this seems to be beating about the bush. Trade and cultural exchanges are important but India-Pakistan relations cannot be on an even keel unless the 26/11 dispute is amicably settled. India should cash in on the domestic chaos in Pakistan to push the process along.
