Indo-Pak talks can succeed if it is restructured to make it uninterrupted and New Delhi co-opts Islamabad in the war on terror rather than rely on the US, newly nominated Rajya Sabha MP Mani Shankar Aiyar has said.
"If we can seriously restructure the India-Pakistan dialogue to make it uninterrupted and more importantly uninterruptible, then, I think, on the basis of past precedence, we will succeed," Aiyar told reporters in London last evening.
Aiyar, who launched two of his new books Confessions of a Secular Fundamentalist and A Time of Transition, Rajiv Gandhi to the 21st Century - said that India could co-opt Pakistan into the war on terror rather than rely on Americans co-opting India into their war on terror and then "making their war on terror our war on terror."
Diplomat-turned politician, Aiyar said: "Not only it is feasible for us to engage Pakistan, but if any meaningful results are to follow, it can only come from the path of engagement...
"We need to co-opt Pakistan in this war against terror. In someways, fortunately all terror groups in Pakistan are now beginning to form themselves into a network. The very people who were targeting us are targeting Pakistanis and at any case mutual assistance they are giving to each other, makes us have a common interest in combating terrorism.
"That common interest can never be pursued or realized unless and until there is a cooperative relationship between the agencies of India and Pakistan concerned in the task.
"We have to find mutually acceptable means of cooperation with Pakistan and use those means to our best advantage."
Aiyar said he believed India-Pakistan talks must take place on a designated day - every week, every fortnight or every month - that is a matter of detail. They must take place irrespective of whatever else is happening. Such talks could be held on Wagah-Atari border, without any common agenda.
"So much progress has been made on the back channel with respect to Siachen, Wullar Barrage and Sir Creek and even with respect to Kashmir which is why I say the composite dialogue has largely served its purpose," he added.
