India has not kept up high-level exchanges with Pakistan after the incident earlier this year of an Indian soldier being beheaded on the Indian side of the Line of Control by intruding Pakistani soldiers. It was necessary to send the signal to Islamabad that such actions by its “state actors” cannot but invite a response.
In order to evade responsibility, Pakistan denies that its soldiers crossed the LoC and disclaims any responsibility for the beheading. This convinces no one and we are back to square one in India-Pakistan relations. But this does not mean that India is against keeping up protocol niceties.
There is, therefore, nothing wrong in external affairs minister Salman Khurshid flying to Rajasthan on Saturday to meet Pakistan Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, who is in India on a day-long private visit to pay obeisance at the shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer, and offer him lunch.
Islamabad perfectly well understands what Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reiterated in the Rajya Sabha on Friday — that the relations between the two countries cannot be normalised unless Pakistan stops terrorists striking at India from its soil. With Pakistan to hold its national election in a few weeks, this means, in effect, that any forward movement in ties will depend on the outlook of the next elected government in Islamabad. Trade relations and people-to-people ties have improved but it is unlikely they will register further progress until the military establishment in Pakistan cracks down on the terrorists.