The Times of London has reported in its Saturday edition that 10 months back ManmohanSingh appointed an unofficial envoy to make contact with Kayani, who exercises de facto control over his country's foreign policy.
The report does not go into the nature of the contact. Nor does it focus on the timing and venue of the meetings. The ministry of external affairs (MEA), it is learnt, had recommended in the past opening of talks with the Pakistan Army as an effective mechanism to deal with Islamabad.
The back channel talks have "encouraged the UK and the US to believe that the countries' competition for influence in Afghanistan could be better managed during efforts to start a peace process," The Times reported in the backdrop of Gilani and Kayani's recent visit to Kabul and Singh's upcoming trip to the Afghan capital in the first week of May.
The chief of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence ( ISI), General Ahmad Shuja Pasha,had accompanied Kayani during his trip to Kabul earlier this week to meet members of the High Peace Council (a body set up to build contacts with the Taliban groups), The Times said.The report does not mention the name of the unofficial Indian envoy, but it is understood that the Prime Minister may have deputed his Af-Pak special envoy, SK Lambah, for the back channel talks with Kayani in third countries. Lambah, it is understood, had travelled on quiet missions to various cities, including London, over the past few months.Lambah is no stranger to back channel diplomacy, having participated in several such rounds in the last few years. Tariq Aziz, former secretary, National Security Council of Pakistan, had held many rounds of back channel talks with Lambah.Their secret parleys were reported to have made progress on the Kashmir issue with
the opening of the Line of Control for travel and trade.No MEA official was available for comments on the current development, but sources indicated that Lambah was Singh's pointsman for back channel talks.They pointed out that the decision to open talks with the Pakistan Army chief wouldhave been the PM's sole initiative.Sources said the proposal to engage with the Pakistan Army and the ISI has been inthe pipeline. Initially it had been turned down, but the suggestion seems to have now received the green signal. India reportedly has asked its high commissioner in Pakistanto open channels of communication with Kayani and ISI's Pasha, and this move could open up new possibilities in the engagement between the two neighbours.
Sources said that as the army shapes Pakistan's India policy, it was necessary to involve it in any move to normalise bilateral ties. The army and the ISI have been held responsible for abetting the proxy war in Jammu and Kashmir and terror strikes elsewhere in India, including 26/11. The Pakistan Army had reportedly played spoilsport in the meeting between Indo-Pak foreign ministers at Islamabad in July 2010. This year, during both the Thimphu and Mohali meetings, the Pakistan government had assured the army's support for the peace process.Foreign policy experts in both the countries were not surprised by the development.
Pakistani's former national security adviser, Gen (Retd.) Mahmud Ali Durrani, a votary of back channel talks, said, "If this news is true, it will be a good beginning. Back channel diplomacy has done well in the past during the tenures of Parvez Musharraf and Nawaz Sharif. It proved to be useful. It could be more useful if it were to be held outof the glare of publicity."
When Durrani was here as NSA in October 2008, a month before 26/11, the two sides had reportedly discussed a proposal to open a channel of communication between India and the Pakistan Army and the ISI. Expressing similar sentiments, former foreign secretary Salman Haider said if the development did occur, it was only logical. "If the meeting had at all happened I would rather look at it in a positive way," Haider said. "The Pakistan Army has a big say in the country's policy towards India. But the contact cannot be formal. It has to be rather quiet. It is important to understand Gen. Kayani's mind."
Former high commissioner to Pakistan G Parthasarathy did not rule out the possibility of contact between the Indian establishment and the Pakistan Army chief. But he cautioned that it would be naive to believe at this stage that the Pakistan Army would have abandoned using terror as an instrument of state policy.
"If Kayani continues to aid the Taliban, incurring US displeasure and retribution, it would be naive to believe that there has been any change in his jihadist agenda," warned the former diplomat.
Welcoming the development, Congress Rajya Sabha MP Mani Shankar Aiyar said: "This development is news to me, but I welcome any attempt to hold an uninterrupted and uninterruptible dialogue with Pakistan. I do not guarantee that any dialogue will be successful, but not holding any dialogue will not lead to any success. We shall never be able to take our place in the world without good relations with Pakistan."a probe into the strike. Within days, the plan was overruled by Kayani. Later in July 2009, Pasha reportedly met all three defence advisers of the Indian High Commission at Islamabad. He had then suggested that the ISI and the Pakistan Army should find a place in bilateral talks. The latest straws in the wind indicate that the process may already be underway.
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