M A I N   N E W S

Indo-Pak talks on air links grounded
Rajeev Sharma
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 28
It was virtually a dialogue of the deaf as the two-day India-Pakistan talks on the resumption of air links concluded in Rawalpindi today with both the sides agreeing to disagree with each other.

The two sides stuck to their previously-stated respective positions. India insisted on overflights as part of the entire air links resumption package while Pakistan harped on a guarantee that the facility of overflights would not be withdrawn by either side unilaterally.

Official sources here said an agreement was well within reach but the talks broke down because of Pakistani intransigence on the overflights issue.

On day one, the talks began on a promising note and positive discussions were held on the resumption of point-to-point services, frequencies and places. The two sides even discussed the possibility of additional frequencies and places to be covered.

The Pakistani side was game even for starting flights between Islamabad and New Delhi, but it stuck to its position on overflights. India categorically refused the Pakistani demand for guarantees, saying that Islamabad had not sought any guarantees while resuming the Delhi-Lahore bus or any other services between the two countries. “Picking out overflights only clearly indicates some other intention,” sources said.

The Indian position is that seeking guarantees would open the Pandora’s box of further guarantees. “There would thus be a need also for Pakistan to guarantee that it would never violate Simla Agreement and its provisions; that it would unilaterally seek to alter the status of LoC; that it would never repeat Kargil; that it would never promote terrorism directed against India; that it would never violate the provision of Simla Agreement to prevent the organisation, assistance or encouragement of any acts detrimental to the maintenance of peaceful and harmonious relations,” sources said.

It is understood that Pakistan has been cool on overflights and is seeking guarantees which it knows India will never give primarily because of strategic and economic reasons.

Overflights will give India an easier, better and quicker access to Afghanistan which Pakistan believes it to be its backyard. Islamabad has been worried over the increasing Indian presence in Afghanistan and has been looking in trepidation ever since New Delhi opened its consulates in Jalalabad, Kandahar and Herat cities of Afghanistan. Islamabad has often alleged that India has opened these consulates to facilitate operations of Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) against Pakistan. India has disdainfully rebutted these charges.

From the economic perspective, Islamabad believes that New Delhi stands to lose much more if the overflights facility continues to remain frozen between the two countries.

Official sources here today mocked at these arguments. They pointed out that the absence of overflights facility added an additional burden on the Indian exchequer as compared to Pakistan’s to the tune of just Rs 8 crore per annum. “The Indian economy is huge and resilient enough to absorb much bigger losses. This is peanuts,” a senior official said. He pointed out that India had taken up the overflights issue only because it would send a political signal.

Mr Navtej Sarna, MEA spokesperson, said, “An agreement could easily have been reached. It is regretted that this did not happen because of Pakistan’s negative approach and its attempts to bring in extraneous issues.”

As an agreement eluded the technical teams of India and Pakistan in Rawalpindi today, the two sides issued a brief “agreed press release” in Islamabad which said that the talks were held in a cordial and businesslike atmosphere.