First came media reports about Pakistan questioning the accuracy of what India has all along been saying about the Jan. 2 attack on Pathankot Air Force Station in which four attackers and two security forces personnel were killed in the initial battle, with an additional security force member dying from injuries hours later. According to these reports, the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) that visited India last week to examine the evidence provided by India's National Investigation Agency (NIA) in the attack was convinced that the whole thing was stage-managed by India to malign Pakistan as a terrorism-promoting country. Then on Thursday, Abdul Basit, Pakistan's envoy to India, said the peace process between the two countries "stands suspended." Even though the Foreign Ministry in Islamabad contradicted him moments later, Basit's statement ruling out the National Investigation Agency's (NIA) visit to Pakistan to follow up on the probe into the Pathankot attack came as another surprise to New Delhi which says both visits were mutually agreed upon. Are we to conclude that Indo-Pak relations still remain a hostage to history, though Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a high-voltage diplomatic engagement with Pakistan four months ago, promising to "turn the course of history"? Of course, it is not for the first time the talks between the estranged neighbors are suspended or postponed. The structured dialogue was suspended seven years ago following the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. It was after India's External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's visit to Pakistan that both sides agreed to resume the dialogue but unfortunately Pathankot attacks proved a stumbling block. Almost three years ago, the "resumed dialogue" was stalled following the alleged killing by Pakistani troops of Indian soldiers including one who was beheaded. The meeting between Pakistani officials and separatist Kashmiri leaders was the reason for the suspension of talks at one time. Still there was a ray of hope provided by Modi's plan to visit Islamabad to attend a South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) conference in September. The latest developments have disappointed all those who hoped that India and Pakistan would utilize the intervening period to build a strong foundation of renewed engagement. This is unfortunate for two reasons. Modi has so far been a disappointment on the economic front and a near disaster on the domestic one. But for a prime minister coming from a party, which has always taken a hard-line stance toward Pakistan, he has carefully avoided the visceral hatred and incendiary rhetoric with which his party used to react to any conciliatory move toward Islamabad taken by Congress. On the contrary, he has adopted a different approach. From the invitation to his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif to attend his swearing-in ceremony, the unannounced Lahore visit, to the secret back channels — he has displayed more boldness and a willingness to take more risks than his predecessors when it comes to Pakistan. The latest developments will only gladden the hearts of those in the BJP and its sister organizations who have always been implacably hostile to Pakistan. They may insist on bringing the issue of terrorism on top of any agenda for talks with Pakistan, thus encouraging the hard-liners on the other side of the border. A second reason for worry is the slow but steady decline in Modi's electoral appeal. The prime minister has refrained from resorting to crude anti-Pak chauvinism to keep his flock together. But there is always a possibility that his party may. This is the danger against which the peace-loving people of India and Pakistan should be on guard. They should put pressure on their governments to implement, as early as possible, those measures already agreed on and in which the common man has a stake like trade, cultural exchanges and visa liberalization. This is the only way to defeat those in India and Pakistan who have a vested interest in keeping tensions high.
