The previous NDA administration had started a negotiation process with Pakistan. Now that they are no longer in power and a new Govt. is in place, how do you bring them to the negotiating table ? First some murders, some throat slitting, murder of security forces, and some taking of women as hostages. As Kuldeep Nayar of I-forgot-to-buy-the-candle fame writes
The army on the Indian side of Kashmir says that infiltration from Pakistan has increased. The home ministry reports in a 30-page document that training camps have been reopened on the Pakistani side of Kashmir and some 500 militants are undergoing training. This is nothing unusual. Militants' camps have never been completely wound up and infiltration takes place after the melting of snow at the passes straddling over the mountains.
The quantum of infiltration is still small. One cannot say for certain whether it would reach the proportion which it had in the past decade. Nor can one be sure about how far Pakistan was behind it. There are some jihadis who, even Musharraf admits, cannot be checked since they are like a loose gun beyond anybody's control. But if infiltration is beginning in the same old way, it is an unfortunate development.
It will be a clear message from Islamabad that it is not happy over the content of talks. The Pakistan spokesman in his last week's briefing dropped a hint: "There are some differences. Pakistan has its own position and India its own. We have been talking about it for quite some time without reaching any conclusion."Dawn