RIO DE JANEIRO: Pakistan has, for the first time, suggested that Chinese mediation could help reduce escalating tension, Talking to Sunday Mail here, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz. Sharif said China could help because Sino-Indian relations have improved and therefore could be advantageous.
I would not begrudge it if China plays some kind of a mediatory role between India and Pakistan China is a very close ally of Pakistan and understands the position of both countries,” he said.
(Significantly, Pakistan did not figure in the talks between the Indian prime minister and the Chinese premier here, The Chinese premiers statement that “the border between the two countries should remain a zone of peace until delimitation talks begin,” however, showed the will to improve ties.)
“Involving China would be one way of improving our relationship with India,” Sharif said, however on the question of reducing tension with India, he said he would continue the dialogue to get the crux of the setback.”
That India could scarcely agree to Chinese mediation is a foregone conclusion, but the attempts to draw China into Indo-Pak affairs, has surprised Indian diplomats.
Bilateral issues must be kept bilateral,” insisted an Indian diplomat who accompanied Prime Minister P.V.Narasimha Rao to Earth Summit here. “We do not need anybody’s mediation. If the Pakistanis show as much open mindedness as we have done then there will be no problems at all he added.
The diplomats view reflected the disappointment in the Indian camp that followed Raos hesitation to press for an apology from Pakistan on the issue of recent assaults on Indian diplomats in that country. He averred that Rao should at least have asked for a guarantee that future attacks would not occur. In his view, India agreed to resumption of secretary level talks without any substantial gains from the Pakistanis.
However, some of the Indian diplomats felt that though Pakistan wanted to improve relations, it was the pressure politics in that country that was hindering normalization of ties.
There are several intelligence agencies in Pakistan each working independent of the other. Anyone of them could have been responsible for these attacks. The assaults may not necessarily have been directed by Islamabad, a diplomat said,
Interestingly, Sharif refused to answer queries, by “Sunday Mail” about the assault on Indian diplomats. And Pakistan’s foreign minister Sharmiya Khan laughed when asked which Indian diplomat was next on the “hit list,” Ironically, the very next day another attack on an Indian diplomat was reported,
The Pakistani premier was guarded when asked if cooperation in science and technology was possible with India, “Let the outstanding issues be cleared. Only then can we think of cooperation in any field, he said.
Even on environmental problems, which are similar for both countries, Sharif saw little scope for cooperation. “We did not discuss co-operation this field,” he said.
The underlying release and suspicion was evident as the two leaders emerged after their closed door talks. When asked by photographers to shake hands. Rao immediately held his hand out but Sharif hesitated before giving in to persuasive prompting.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 3, 1992
