Manmohan Singh’s secret talks with Ashfaq Parvez Kayani ‘just not cricket’

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has opened secret talks with the Pakistan Army chief to build on the cricket diplomacy that opened up between the two countries during the recently concluded World Cup, a media report said Saturday.Singh “appointed an unofficial envoy to make contact with General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, Pakistan’s chief of the army staff who exercises de facto control over foreign policy,” British daily The Times reported.The report said that the talks are believed to have been motivated partly by India’s desire for greater influence, along with the US and UK, in Afghanistan. Incidentally, Kayani himself visited Kabul this week to meet members of the high peace council, a body set up by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, to build contacts with Taliban groups.The visit of Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to watch the semi-final match between India and Pakistan in the cricket World Cup last month had sparked hope of a diplomatic thaw between the two countries.Army and foreign policy experts, however, are not enthused by the idea of India talking directly to the Pakistani army. Former Indian army chief Gen. VP Malik told DNA that it is not possible to deal directly with Pakistan army leaders.While it is true that the army calls the shots with regard to Indo-Pak relations, it does not make sense to talk to the army on the other side because of differences in perspective. “The Pakistan army believes that India has strategic depth and that is why it wants Afghanistan to remain in its sphere of influence. The two sides are on different trajectories and there is no meeting point,” he said.Gen Malik, however, did not rule out the possibility of involving the Pakistan army in the bilateral peace process through the mediation of a third country like the United States.Former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal said that it is immature on the part of India to try to bypass the civilian establishment and the democratically elected government. “There is an internal squabble between the civilian government and the army there. It is, therefore, not right for India, with all its rhetoric about democracy, to be engaging with the generals in Islamabad.”Responding to the Indian attempt to schedule a Kabul visit for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in response to Gen.Kayani’s visit to Afghanistan, Gen Malik said that India never had a say in the important decisions in Afghanistan.“The US kept India out while it talked to Pakistan and other countries, despite the fact that India has spent money and done a lot of developmental work in Afghanistan,” he observed.Sibal was of the view that India’s presence in Afghanistan is legitimate for strategic reasons and Pakistan should not be allowed to claim any exclusivity with regard to Kabul. Giving an example, he said, “India cannot object to China’s growing presence in Pakistan. It is the same in the case of India in Afghanistan.” (Agency: DNA)