Square one or ground zero

Abdul Sattar says he has spend one-third of his career dealing with India. He hopes the Agra summit will reward at least a part of his long-term association

FARHAN BOKHARI

Abdul Sattar, Pakistan’s foreign minister, paused for a moment to briefly reflect on his best hope and worst fear from next weekend’s summit between General Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani president, and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the Indian president. ‘‘The best hope is that the two leaders would agree on a salutary process which addresses the Kashmir question,’’ he told The Indian Express in an interview. ‘‘The worst fear is that we will be back to square one.’’

Sattar’s remarks are no different from the two views expressed by many Pakistanis ahead of the final pre-summit week, when General Musharraf’s government is taking care not to take any chances that would vitiate the atmosphere. Even the decision not to allow Vikas Singh, the Indian peace activist, to travel on his bicycle from Peshawar, the northern city, to Wahga border, came down to a question of how best his security could be guaranteed. Even an unexpected road accident along the historic Grand Trunk Road (the only route to Lahore from Peshawar which is open to bicyclists) could have greatly soured the atmosphere.

But Sattar’s perspective gets much weight in view of his unique background. The first foreign minister with a long association of dealing diplomatically with India, Sattar is the one to claim that a third of his career was spent on an India watch. He recalls his parting words to former prime minister Narasimha Rao, when Sattar bid farewell to Delhi after a six-year-long posting. ‘‘One-third of my career was spent dealing with India, (a career) which had remained sterile. I shared my disppointment with Rao,’’ he says.

However, in contrast to the past when Sattar was clearly disappointed over his failure to break the ice with Pakistan’s Eastern neighbour, he is encouraged by the emerging pre-summit environment. ‘‘This is a moment of hope because both leaders have given indication of recognising that there is a problem’’ is Sattar’s response when pressed to say, exactly why should any optimism follow a 54-year-old history of mutual hostility and tumultuous relations. He says that a close look at the letters exchanged between General Musharraf and Vajpayee in recent months have convinced him that there’s a manifest desire to deal with contentious issues including the situation in Kashmir.

But Sattar may well face his next formidable challenge in the weeks and months beyond the summit when it would be up to him and other Pakistani diplomats to do the leg work should a peace process get under way. For Pakistan, it would not only be the difficulty of overcoming the bitterness shared by many in dealing with a larger neighbour which is considered the architect of its physical break-up in 1971 when Bangladesh was created. It would also be the challenge ahead of reconciling Islamabad’s hand of friendship with the feelings of those who are uncompromising in considering the struggle in Kashmir as central to Pakistan’s best interests.

The controversy over General Musharraf seeking a meeting with the leadership of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference has already triggered concerns over an unnecessary symbol of discord marring the summit environment. Officials such as Sattar candidly say that Pakistan considers the APHC the legitimate leader of the Kashmiris. While General Musharraf has agreed to the bilateral meeting with ajpayee, there continues to be emphasis in official circles that a final settlement cannot take place without the representation of Kashmiris on the negotiating table, best demonstrated with the presence of the APHC leadership. Yet, if the peace process does get underway, Sattar’s one consolation may well be that it would be a personal gratification for those who have spent their careers working for the improvement of Indo-Pakistan relations, an exercise which has so far remained futile. Sattar says, that futility ‘‘had a cost for the careers of many who had worked towards improving relations’’.

In just over a week’s time, Sattar may find out if the words that he spoke to Rao could now be followed by a more optimistic outlook for a region where one-third of his career work would always remain a part of his life, with or without permanent peace between India and Pakistan.