In a potential paradigm shift in bilateral ties, Pakistan on Sunday agreed with India to adopt the “India-China model” in negotiating their sensitive relationship, which entails focusing on scaling up trade while resolving outstanding issues in a “step-by-step” incremental manner.
After holding 40-minutes of one-on-one talks at the Prime Minister’s residence, the discussions extended over a lavish lunch involving senior ministers and officials from both sides. At the lunch, Mr Zardari told PM Manmohan Singh that India and China have many differences, but their trade ties are going up, said government sources. Mr Zardari indicated, said sources, that that the India-China model could help improve the relations between India and Pakistan as well.
In their talks also preceding lunch, Dr Singh and Mr Zardari agreed on the need to tap economic potential and the need for positive movement in the direction of liberalising trade, said the sources.
India has been pitching for the India-China model in talks with Pakistani interlocutors for a long time, a model endorsed by Beijing, but Islamabad had not responded enthusiastically as its political establishment saw Kashmir as the “core issue” that needed to be resolved before trade normalisation can take place.
But in the past few months, with Pakistan moving in the direction of granting India the Most Favoured Nation status, the Kashmir-first-and-trade-later equation has been reversed in favour of simultaneously pursuing both trade and discussions on the contentious Kashmir issue, over which the two nations have fought three wars.
The India-China model, said sources, could be a potential game-changer in the accident-prone India-Pakistan relationship as it envisages a pragmatic approach to keep working at enhancing economic ties that benefits both countries while taking a long-strategic range view to resolve complex outstanding issues like Kashmir.