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WITH his typical outlook, the Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has—eventually—beamed a hazy hint—that he will meet apex leadership when he lands onto the soils of Pakistan for the ensuing SAARC summit—in January next.

Conversing with newsmen in Lucknow Friday, he said that he is ‘keen’ to meet his Pakistani counterpart, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali on the sidelines of the moot.

It’s a matter of satisfaction that Prime Minister Jamali’s unilateral announcement of ceasefire on the Line of Control, Working Boundary and the Line of Actual Contact in Siachin has prima facie convinced Prime Minister Vajpayee and other Indian leaders about the urgent need for peace, security and stability in South Asia, which has paradoxically remained volatile over the past half a century.

AB Vajpayee’s acquiescence to hold talks with the Pakistani leaders is certainly a welcome progression in the Indo-Pak relations. The global community pins great expectations in this development and hopes for a breakthrough for resumption of the stalled dialogue between the two nuke-neighbours.

Deeds, however, speak louder than words.

It’s, therefore, hoped that Vajpayee’s avowal will not be a mere rhetoric but—instead would be substantiated with sincere, serious and tangible steps to address the outstanding issues that have bedevilled the Indo-Pakistan relations. India will optimistically exhibit sincerity and seriousness for peace between the two countries and—by setting aside its customary posture—would not back off on its commitments and pledges at least this time.

Amid an obscure n’ murky milieu—which is engulfing the horizons of South Asia—Vajpayee has to give a testimony that he is really a man, who ‘loves’—peace. Such a perception can be translated into a reality—only by practical initiative for meaningful and result-oriented dialogue with Pakistan to address the Kashmir issue, which is n’ has been the root cause of tension between the two countries.

We, however, strongly feel that there is—virtually—no need to be over-exuberant at Vajpayee’s visit in view of the fixed Indian tendency of taking somersaults after deflating international pressure for talks with Pakistan. We wish that the process of dialogue should not only begin but should be sustained to eliminate the climate of mistrust, confrontation and conflict between the two nuclear rivals.

India’s sincerity for peace in the region will, however, be adjudged by the diminution—rather total end of the ferocious acts of state terrorism—in the forcibly occupied part of the Himalayan state of Jammu n’ Kashmir, where innocent men, women and children are being subjected to death n’ obliteration by the Indian forces—who invaded the charismatic realm—almost over five decades ago.

Political pundits in New Delhi are ought to comprehend the reality that peace overtures—with state terrorism intact—can, in no way serve any pragmatic euphoria for the accomplishment of a zestful course—like eternal concord in a perilous environ of South Asia. Nor can it prove advantageous without an evocative n’ meaningful interaction—most explicitly—fact-to-face n’ that too on the top-level.

India is well acquainted with the fabulous feedback—the world powers like the United States, Britain, Russia, China as well as the European Union—have given to Pakistan’s unilateral offer of a truce. Every remark has—overtly—stressed the need for an instantaneous origination of a truthful process for dialogue—to make the risky settings evaporate only through the amputation of the irritants—with the solution of the core issue of Kashmir atop—as fiddling by India’s erratic attitude vis-à-vis the ground realities have marred amity between the two countries ever since the exit n’ end of a prolonged British rule.

Pakistan is—simultaneously—needed to opt for a watchful n’ vigilant approach towards New Delhi’s postures—which have been—ironically—shifting with one scam n’ ruse or the other—in the past. It is—in fact—indexed in the history that if a clement JL Nehru could back-out from India’s commitment on Kashmir, it is rather atypical to anticipate an upbeat response from BJP, composed of a set of radicals—who are, by realism the off-shoots of an extremist cluster—the RSS. Every-one adores the sincere n’ serene offers—to India—by Premier Jamali, yet expects that New Delhi shall reciprocate in an identical style.

Isn't it a veracity that there can be no peace, no friendship, no harmony, no love, no links—what-so-ever between India n’ Pakistan sans the solution of the Kashmir Issue n’ that too—in a mode which synchronizes the UN resolutions –based on valid n’ justifiable aspirations of the people of this captivating State—a Paradise, turned into Horror—amid wicked Pandora’s Box—unleashed on the people, struggling for their birth right—which has been made accessible to every-one, even to East Timor—yet still kept in hiccup for Kashmiris?

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