India has been pitching for banning Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror outfit chief Maulana Masood Azhar and his brother Abdul Rauf in connection with the attack on Air Force Base in Pathankot at the UN but the move was vetoed by China. Pakistan, after the return of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) in the first week of April, has not replied to various letters rogatory seeking legal assistance in probing the Pathankot attack. On the other hand its Senate has asked the government to create India-dossier on ”interference” in the country and send it to other nations and international institutions. The Interpol has issued a fresh Red Corner notice which is being seen as a mere formality as Pakistan has not yet acted on the arrest warrants earlier issued against the two. Similar warrant is pending against 41-year-old Rauf in connection with the IC-814 hijacking case of 1999. Despite all these efforts Pakistan has not responded positively to India’s overtures and it looks in future also its response will remain the same. India and Pakistan have been going through a mixed phase of relations in recent times. Efforts to resume talks between the two nuclear-armed neighbours have been stalled by terror strikes in India by Pak-supported terrorists operating from its soil. Peace, security, terror and the contagious issue of Kashmir has been the hurdle in the talks between the two countries. New Delhi needs to adopt not only a balanced and flexible approach towards Islamabad with a tough line on terror but also engaging Islamabad on the backchannel, which should include reaching out to even the army brass-tacks. Such backchannel negotiations had in fact almost resolved the Kashmir issue during the Manmohan Singh-Pervez Musharraf years. It’s all the more necessary therefore, to engage all the stake players to correct the misread signals while understanding better New Delhi’s intentions. Change in tactics is needed to tackle the contagious issues with Pakistan and not the stale unproductive steps which have been going on for years. With world looking at how the events turn up on the normalisation front India has the edge by going one step further in the path for search of peace in the subcontinent.
