Let's go back to an 'Interruptible and Conditional' dialogue with Pak

How does one wage peace when conflict turns macabre and public opinion favours revenge Logically policies are not formulated due to pressures of knee jerk public opinion However disregarding public opinion too is political suicide The brutal killing of two Indian soldiers in Mendhar on January 6 by Pakistanis whether regulars or lsquononstatersquo actors has put the beleaguered composite peace dialogue between India and Pakistan in sharp focus In Pakistan there are those who say that it is India that started the recent titfortat action at the Line of Control LoC Hawks on both sides are calling for an immediate end to the peace process some are even calling for punitive strikes Peaceniks caution against derailing the peace process arguing that a lot of hard work has gone into it it has held off war and saved livesu00a0Peace is a lovely dream Every Miss Universe makes it her goal in life Even the Dalai Lama who has made India his home preaches peace though his followers immolate themselves regularly But peace can be achieved in many ways By coercion and compliance by negotiation and dialogue and by carrot and stick Weeks after a Hurriyat delegation met Hafiz Saeed in Lahore Pakistan officially reiterated its commitment to a peaceful resolution of all outstanding issues with India India has made several peace moves like removal of trade barriers and liberalisation of the visa regime in the last two years But what has India got in return brutality at the LoC no forward movement on the 2611 trial constant and pernicious interference in Jammu amp Kashmir including openly cavorting with Kashmiri separatists Pakistani establishment is supremely confident that however extreme be the provocation India is not going to react any differently When both the political and the bureaucratic wings of the Indian government have committed to an unconditional peace process they have willynilly also invested in an uninterrupted one Pakistan has read the tea leaves correctly that other than a massacre of a few hundred civilians in a major urban cluster India will not react unfavourably to Pakistan Cynical you think Perhaps visuals of the funeral of the beheaded soldier have something to do with my opinion Or maybe itrsquos the impact of watching the last rites of the other soldier being conducted by his fourmonthold son who had to be carried by an uncle around the funeral pyre War is always ugly but this is peace Or that is what we are supposed to believe We are told that this is not an enemy we are dealing with It is a neighbour with whom we are talking about trust mutual confidence and sharing We are sending our doctors and journalists across and welcoming their musicians cricketers writers and civil society members to break bread with us here Then how does one explain the beheading of a soldier The beheading is not the same as being killed by a bullet a bomb or a missile This beheading was carried out to teach a lesson and not to elicit information from a prisoner of war or a spy It was a provocation it was to elicit a reaction to send a message that Pakistan will not let its actions be influenced by any consideration for the socalled peace process Pakistan officially lsquoreiterates its commitment to a peaceful resolution of all outstanding issues through a sustained and resultoriented dialogue with Indiarsquo This statement came just days after the skirmishes on the LoC and weeks after a Hurriyat delegation met Hafiz Saeed in Lahore and Syed Salahuddin in Islamabad Why would the Pakistan army chief meet Hurriyat leaders if not to send an unambiguous signal that it is business as usual in Kashmir regardless of the homilies he spouts or official statements he puts out Some western media reports erroneously talk of a new Pakistan army doctrine a shift in GHQrsquos focus from its conventional enemy India towards amorphous enemies within its own country and towards its western border The jehadi culture it so lovingly nourished as the first line of offence against India is now devouring Pakistan from within In the cycle of unending violence over a hundred Shias were massacred in a single day in Pakistan last week The attack in Mendhar is a clear indication that there is no rethinking in Pakistan armyrsquos strategic posturing on the ground This should lead India to pause and rethink its strategy It may be prudent for us to revert to the carrot and stick policy that we successfully pursued to force General Musharraf to agree to the cease fire on the LoC in 2003 Smita Prakash is Editor News at Asian News International You can follow her on twitter smitaprakashu00a0