India, Pakistan begin talking again... in Bangkok

New Delhi India and Pakistan on Sunday quietly resumed their stalled dialogue in Bangkok with their National Security Advisors discussing an array of contentious bilateral issues and promising to carry forward the constructive engagementA joint statement issued after the meeting said Ajit Doval of India and Naseer Khan Janjua of Pakistan held discussions in a candid cordial and constructive atmosphereForeign secretaries S Jaishanker of India and Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry of Pakistan took part in the meetingDiscussions covered peace and security terrorism Jammu and Kashmir and other issues including tranquility along the LoC Line of Control the statement saidDoval and Janjua were guided by the vision of the two leaders for a peaceful stable and prosperous South Asia It was agreed to carry forward the constructive engagement it saidOfficial pictures showed Doval and Janjua shaking hands in a warm atmosphere at the venueThe Sunday meeting followed the meeting of Prime Ministers Narendra Modi of India and Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan in Paris on the sidelines of the Conference of Parties CoP 21 climate summit on November 30After a long gap Modi and Sharif had a brief but warm chat as they bumped into each other in ParisThis was the first meeting between them since they met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation SCO meeting in Ufa Russia in July this yearAfter the Ufa meet they directed their foreign secretaries to initiate the process of renewal of bilateral talks including meetings between their national security advisersBut talks between Doval and his then Pakistani counterpart Sartaj Aziz scheduled in New Delhi in August were axed after the Pakistan envoy here insisted on inviting Hurriyat leaders for a reception in honour of AzizThe Bangkok meeting came ahead of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swarajs visit this week to Pakistan for the Heart of Asia conference a multilateral engagement on AfghanistanPost Ufa firing and shelling across the LoC and the international border that split Jammu and Kashmir between India and Pakistan dramatically increased causing serious strains in bilateral tiesThe border incidents have since scaled down as dramatically leading to the Bangkok meetWhile India considers Pakistanbacked terrorism as a key issue in the normalization of bilateral relations Islamabad wants the focus on Jammu and Kashmir whose ownership it contendsAfter Ufa the Pakistani military brass had stated that all further dialogue with India would have to cover the issue of Jammu and Kashmir where a separatist campaign since 1989 has claimed thousands of livesThe DovalJanjua meeting received mixed reaction in India with one Congress leader questioning the Modi governments apparent Uturn visavis PakistanManish Tewari called it a grand betrayal by the government and a reflection of the flip flop on its Pakistan policyFormer Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah said it was good to see India and Pakistan resume the dialogue processPerhaps this is the way quiet progress will be made away from each others capitals and the glare of mediadriven expectationsNow the challenge is to make sure the IndoPakistan dialogue process is ringfenced from incidents designed specifically to derail it