in Pakistan after Osama’s killing, New Delhi does not want to rock the boat of bilateral dialogue that was resumed recently.
Official sources said on Wednesday that Pakistan was “no push-over” and none other than the United States had realized it. Asked if India could also do an Abbottabad-type commando operation to neutralize its own high value targets like Hafiz Saeed, Zaki ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Dawood Ibrahim and others, the sources said foreign policy is conducted on the basis of hard realities on the ground and not for wish fulfilment. They said Pakistan was now a foreign country but was once a part of India and this factor can never be forgotten while dealing with Pakistan. “There is a reasonable, sober way of dealing with neighbour,” sources said.
The next Secretaries-level meeting between India and Pakistan is scheduled later this month and India is determined to go ahead with it as “geography is destiny” which cannot be changed. However, India knows it has a foot in the door as far as demanding bringing 26/11 accused to the book is concerned and will continue to take it up in a more pro-active manner, the sources said.
Meanwhile report from Islamabad suggest that the Water Secretaries of India and Pakistan will meet in Islamabad for talks on the Wullar Barrage/Tulbul Navigation Project from May 11 to May 14 as part of the resumed dialogue process between the two countries, the Pakistan Foreign Office announced late Tuesday night.
Earlier in the day, reacting to renewed demands from India for action against India-specific terrorist sanctuaries in Pakistan, Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir described it as a familiar but outdated line. “It is some part of the old system repeating itself.”
Referring to the recent round of discussions between the two Home Secretaries and Commerce Secretaries as “good meetings”, Mr. Bashir added that the demand from India in the wake of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden’s killing was “a line of thinking mired in a mindset that is neither realistic nor productive”.