Sushma Swaraj calls meet, key decision soon

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and MoS V K Singh in a meeting with former ambassadors to Pakistan and foreign secretaries in New Delhi. (Photo: PTI)

The Modi government is expected to firmly tell Islamabad that it should now take strong action against Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) — suspected of having carried out the Pathankot terror strike — if it wants any progress on the Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue between the two countries. There are indications that New Delhi will take a key decision in a day or two on whether foreign secretary S. Jaishankar’s proposed visit to Pakistan in mid-January should go through as scheduled.

The government is likely to make it clear to Pakistan that talks and terror cannot go hand in hand. While the dialogue process is understood to be still on track so far, the strain is showing, with indications that it could be put on hold if Pakistan shows no signs of acting against such terror outfits. With the Modi government caught in a bind over the course of action to be adopted vis-a-vis talks with Pakistan, the strategy on Pakistan was discussed by the government with former foreign secretaries and ex-envoys to the neighbouring country on Sunday, a day after the terror strike at the Pathankot airbase.

According to news agencies, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj held consultations in the national capital which were also attended by S.K. Lambah, G. Parthasarathy, Shyam Saran, Shivshankar Menon, Satyabrata Paul, Sharad Sabharwal and T.C.A. Raghavan. Minister of state for external affairs Gen. V.K. Singh (Retd) and foreign secretary S. Jaishankar also attended the meeting. Government sources did not elaborate on the discussions during this unusual meeting and termed it only as “diplomatic consultations on the Pakistan strategy”. The government is taking feedback and will take a decision on what to do, sources said.

There are indications that even if the Indian foreign secretary visits Islamabad as per schedule, he will during discussions with his Pakistani counterpart strongly raise the demand once again of action against the JeM. He is also expected to tell Pakistan that this terror attack too was planned from Pakistani soil. New Delhi is expected to press home the point that unless the menace of Pakistan-based terror groups operating freely is tackled by the Pakistani state, there can be no progress in talks.

The discussions of Ms Swaraj with the former diplomats follow speculation that the Pakistan Army and ISI may have ordered militant group JeM to carry out the attack as the Pakistani military top brass was apparently unhappy over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to Lahore and the boost that it gave to Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif, who shares an uneasy equation with the Pakistan Army.

Meanwhile, MoS for external affairs Gen. V.K. Singh (Retd) was quoted by news agencies as saying, “In Pakistan, there are different agencies — there is an elected government, the Army and ISI, whose agenda probably is set by the Army or has its own agenda, and there are terrorist organisations. All have their different paths and work on them differently. The civilian government there has to be strengthened, the way after Modiji’s visit hopes have been generated among the common people of Pakistan that there should be friendship and good ties between the two countries. This is a good thing and needs to be taken forward. But at the same time the other things that I mentioned, there needs to be a curb (by Pakistan) on such things (terror groups).”

Sunday’s discussions came amid a raging debate over the possible impact of the Pathankot terror strike on the India-Pakistan dialogue which had got a boost after a surprise visit by Mr Modi to Lahore just a few days ago to meet his Pakistani counterpart, Mr Sharif. The surprise visit had followed the meeting of the two NSAs in Bangkok and Ms Swaraj’s trip to Islamabad last month.