Thaindian News

New Delhi, Sep 5 (IANS) Pitching for resuming dialogue with India, Pakistan’s former national security adviser Mahmud Ali Durrani Saturday called for a “frank dialogue” between spymasters and security services to jointly combat terrorism and bridge mistrust.
In a lecture entitled ‘India and Pakistan - Bridging the Gap’, Durrani outlined an all-embracing vision of a bilateral relationship based on continuous dialogue, resolving ‘doable’ issues like Siachen and Sir Creek without much delay and greater interaction between the media, academia and the business community of the two countries.

Durrani was sacked by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani in January for admitting the Pakistani nationality of Mohammed Ajmal Amir alias Kasab, the sole Pakistani terrorist involved in the Mumbai attacks who is in Indian custody, when Islamabad was in denial.

“Terrorism is the most serious threat to our national security and we need to fight this menace jointly,” Durrani said while delivering the first R.K. Mishra Lecture, named after the veteran journalist who was a key figure from the Indian side in the track II dialogue between India and Pakistan.

The lecture was organised by the Observer Research Foundation, a leading public policy think tank that Mishra headed till he died early this year.

Criticising the joint anti-terror mechanism, set up by the two neighbours in the wake of the July 2006 Mumbai commuter train attacks, Durrani said there was an urgent need to expand it to include senior representative of security and intelligence agencies.

“Instead of using the media and accusing each other for supporting and abetting terrorism, there is a need for a serious catharsis between our intelligence agencies,” said Durrani, an insider to Pakistan’s security establishment and a former ambassador to the US.

Alluding to the impression among the security establishment in Pakistan about India’s involvement in the Balochistan insurgency and New Delhi’s recurrent suspicion about the ISI’s role in terror attacks in India, Durrani said the two countries need to move beyond this state of affairs.

“This can only be done through a frank and candid dialogue between our security and intelligence agencies,” he said.

“I feel confident that after a couple of meetings the spy masters could learn to work together,” he said.

Underlining that war is not an option between India and Pakistan, a fact which has been recognised by the leadership of both countries, Durrani emphasised the need to restart the dialogue process which was stalled after the Mumbai attacks.

“There are more effective ways to express displeasure rather than break dialogue,” he said. Durrani, who studied in Srinagar, said he was ready to support any solution which is acceptable to the Kashmiris. “The bottomline - Kashmir for the Kashmiris,” he said.

Durrani outlined a slew of initiatives that could reduce trust deficit between India and Pakistan and transform the South Asian region into a vibrant hub of trade, commerce and energy.

Durrani’s suggestions include increase in Track II efforts; revival of back channel process; drastic simplification of the visa process by abolishing police reporting and city-specific visas; airing of each other’s TV programmes; and more focus on cooperation in the fields of agriculture and energy.

“Our biggest challenge, as we all know, is to reduce the mistrust that exists between our two nations, not an easy undertaking but very doable,” he stressed.