Balochistan in - terror link out, Babar Sattar, Murtaza Razvi,

But in the words of a senior party leader, it was a 50% victory because wriggling out of the other contentious point in the document, the reference to Balochistan, was not so easy. It would have meant repudiating the entire joint statement, which could have created a diplomatic flashpoint with Pakistan. The PM merely glossed over this bungle by reiterating that India's policy on Balochistan is "an open book".After a 12-day standoff over the controversial India-Pakistan joint statement from Sharm el-Sheikh, the Congress got what it wanted. On Wednesday, prime minister Manmohan Singh put back the brackets that were removed in Sharm el-Sheikh to give his strongest assurance yet to Parliament that there would be no dialogue with Pakistan until it delivers on terror. Manmohan makes U-turn, relinks terror to Pak talks

The success of the peace process is contingent on understanding the sensitivities of Pakistan and India and questioning previously unquestioned assumptions. The reference to Balochistan in the Sharm el-Shiekh statement, for example, underscores two fundamental concerns of Pakistan. One, that the future of Afghanistan has direct consequences for Pakistan's security and strategic interests, and proposals for an enhanced Indian role and presence on Pakistan's western border within Afghanistan – even under the garb of continuing developmental activities – will continue to cultivate suspicion within Pakistan. And, two, the move to permanently shelve the jihadi project must be accompanied by a principled decision to end the proxy wars being waged by the intelligence agencies of both countries. And in this regard, India's insistence that RAW is under effective civilian control is a non-starter, because makes any accusations of Indian intelligence activities and interference within Pakistan outlandish. Civilian control alone doesn't make the incendiary nature of intelligence work kosher. There is thus the need for India to investigate the information being provided by Pakistan and decommission any intelligence projects presently operational. Babar Sattar

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Thoughts worth pondering over ~t

Given our sudden zeal for retribution, and the sense of urgency that some are attaching to bringing the autocratic Gen Musharraf to justice, what an ailing polity like Pakistan really needs is a consensus-based truth and reconciliation commission if the demons of the past are to be exorcised. Such a commission must be representative of all political parties and opinions, including those of marginalised and consistently wronged sections of society. Among such groups, the poor, women, the religious minorities, the Baloch and the Ahmadi community readily come to mind. If the urge is so strong today to start with a clean slate, all old and new holy cows must be brought to the altar of justice which, when dispensed, must also be seen by all to have been done. Murtaza Razvi