Climb Down To The Table

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Manmohan’s churlish behaviour is perceived by many here as typical of a regional bully keen to downsize a unanimously elected president of Pakistan. Mohammad Malik, editor, The News, who dines with the high and mighty of the land most evenings, thinks Manmohan’s slight was a revenge for Agra, where then president Pervez Musharraf scored a public relations victory over his counterpart, Atal Behari Vajpayee. "What Manmohan did is certainly something new from the Indian leadership and downright ‘badtamizi’. Of course, the show was for the domestic Indian audience and an attempt to put pressure on us as the rest of the world is doing," Malik told Outlook.

Agrees former ISI chief Gen (retd) Asad Durrani, "Certainly very, very improper, completely against diplomatic norms. Leave aside the propriety of what Manmohan said, look at the stature of the politician who said it." Malik attributes the PM’s ‘improper behaviour’ to India emulating the US in the conduct of its diplomatic relations. As he explains, "The Indians appear to have taken a leaf out of Washington’s book, where you first embarrass Zardari and then take him behind closed doors and read the riot act to him. Zardari is no statesman and hardly prepared for a one-on-one with the region’s well-groomed prime minister."

Yet Manmohan’s PR victory couldn’t conceal the climbdown he had to affect. India resiled from its position of "no talks until the guilty of 26/11 are punished", vindicating the Pakistani line—"there’s no alternative to talks, no matter what," as a senior foreign official said. Perhaps this is the reason why Islamabad chose to gloss over the "badtamizi" and concentrate on foreign secretary-level talks followed by yet another meeting between the political leadership of the two countries mid-July. For, the fact is, the Indo-Pak talks have resumed, irrespective of the dissembling comments of foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon who chose to hide behind the semantics that the composite dialogue hasn’t begun.

Officials in Pakistan are silently relishing India’s climbdown. When Outlook asked Mohammad Basit, additional secretary in the foreign office, about Manmohan’s comments, he responded, "Let me put it this way—the meeting between Zardari and Manmohan did take place. We look forward to improving our bilateral relations with India, based on mutual respect for each other." Adds the president’s spokesperson, Farhatullah Babar, "The stalled peace process has got a fresh lease of life and we reiterated Islamabad’s desire to punish the perpetrators of the Mumbai carnage." Nothing especially new in the reiteration, is there?

True, Zardari’s opponents took delight in his discomfiture at Yekaterinburg. Columnist Ayaz Amir notes sarcastically, "As if Zardari’s misadventures in the verbal field were not enough, now we have the spectacle of him being trumped by Manmohan Singh." Yet Yekaterinburg generated sympathy for Zardari—the Senate will soon move a joint resolution against Manmohan and his comments; the government benches described Manmohan’s remarks as "unacceptable".

Worse, Manmohan’s remarks have strengthened those officials in the establishment who feel Pakistan has no reason to be keen on initiating dialogue with India. As one of them told Outlook before the Yekaterinburg meet, "What’s the hurry, madam, to resume dialogue with India? We are willing to wait for a few more years. There is no great rush."