Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
04NEWDELHI7703
2004-12-06 12:26:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy New Delhi
Cable title:  

INDO-PAK TRACK II EXCHANGES STRONG, MARRED ONLY BY DISAGREEMENT ON KASHMIR

Tags:  PREL IN PK INDO PAK 
pdf how-to read a cable
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

061226Z Dec 04
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 NEW DELHI 007703 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/07/2014
TAGS: PREL IN PK INDO PAK
SUBJECT: INDO-PAK TRACK II EXCHANGES STRONG, MARRED ONLY BY DISAGREEMENT ON KASHMIR


Classified By: PolCouns Geoffrey Pyatt, Reasons 1.4 (B,D).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 NEW DELHI 007703

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/07/2014
TAGS: PREL IN PK INDO PAK
SUBJECT: INDO-PAK TRACK II EXCHANGES STRONG, MARRED ONLY BY DISAGREEMENT ON KASHMIR


Classified By: PolCouns Geoffrey Pyatt, Reasons 1.4 (B,D).


1. (C) Summary: As India and Pakistan move into Round II of their Composite Dialogue (CD),people-to-people exchanges continue at an accelerating pace, building goodwill, expanding non-official ties, and keeping up a positive atmosphere for formal talks. The recent visit by Pakistani Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi to inaugurate the first-ever Punjab Games generated enormous good feeling, according to the Pakistani DCM, although Elahi possibly linked normalization of trade to progress on Kashmir. During a December 2-7 visit to Delhi by retired senior Pakistani military officers organized by the India-Pakistan Soldiers' Initiative for Peace, participants from both sides agreed to use their influence to further rapprochement. Track II activists are slowly becoming conscious of the soft power they wield, and are eager to build support for the official dialogue. Kashmir remains the dark cloud over these people-to-people exchanges. End Summary.
Progress in Punjab
--------------


2. (C) Punjab, the one Indian state where anti-Pakistan sentiments have traditionally been the most intense, recently witnessed unusual cross-border interaction, including the most important visit by a Pakistani Punjabi politician in memory. Pakistani High Deputy Commissioner Munawar Saeed (protect) told Polcouns on December 3 that Chief Minister Elahi had an unprecedented reception from the moment he arrived in Amritsar, commenting ""I've never seen anything like it."" He said the mood in Chandigarh was also very positive -- ""nearly euphoric"" -- an assessment echoed in the Indian press. Elahi's later comment that trade between the two Punjabs will not take off until core issues such as Kashmir were resolved doused enthusiasm somewhat. Even so, Elahi predicted that overall relations would improve, adding that PM Manmohan Singh's anticipated visit to Pakistan in 2005 to go a long way in this effort.


3. (SBU) Continuing the successful series of Indo-Pak sporting events, particularly cricket and hockey, the first-ever Punjab Games (December 5-10) united more than 750 athletes from the two countries. Traditional Punjabi sports
-- wrestling, field hockey and kabaddi (a team sport combining elements of rugby, wrestling and tag) -- and Olympic sports such as basketball, cycling, and marksmanship are on the program. Although over 100 of the Pakistani athletes submitted their visa applications late, Indian immigration officials garnered goodwill by allowing them special entry through the Wagah border after its scheduled closing. The Games are to be an annual event, with Lahore hosting in 2005.

Old Soldiers Never Die -- They Join Track II Groups
-------------- --------------


4. (SBU) Another recent Track II event passed with less fanfare, but was reflective of broadening dialogue between the two countries. Seventeen retired senior Pakistani military officers -- including lieutenant generals, admirals, and an air marshal -- were in India December 2-7 for meetings with Indian counterparts under the auspices of the India-Pakistan Soldier's Initiative for Peace. At a closed-door roundtable that Poloff attended, speakers from both sides agreed that the peace process under the Composite Dialogue was critical to refocusing budgets from defense to human development. Poloff was struck by participants' comments that especially in Pakistan ""retired officers can impact policy."" The only stumbling point during the day was disagreement over whether Kashmir should be the first order of business between New Delhi and Islamabad, with representatives from both sides reverting to their governments' traditional positions and one Pakistani brigadier asking rhetorically, ""If your Kashmiris are so happy, why not hold a plebiscite?"" That brief flare-up soon died down, however, after both delegations agreed that they had more commonalties than differences.


5. (SBU) Former Indian Chief of Naval Staff Admiral L Ramdas, who brought retired senior Indian officers to Pakistan in 2001, headed the Indian side. The Pakistani group included retired Corps Commanders LTG Nasir Akhtar (Karachi),LTG Humayun Khan Bangash (Lahore and later Ambassador to Turkey),and MG Nawaz Chaudhry, Defense Attache to the US in the mid-1980s. After the roundtable, which was organized by the MOD think-tank Institute for Defense Studies and Analysis, the Pakistani delegation met with New Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit, and a small group later saw Home Minister Shivraj Patil. Their other stops in India included Amritsar, Agra, and Jaipur.
Comment
--------------


6. (SBU) These two events are the most recent examples of the proliferation of cross-border exchanges that are connecting Indian and Pakistani businesspeople, professionals, students, journalists, athletes, and others.
We are struck by participants' sense of the soft power they wield, which vests both countries in their ongoing dialogue, even as friction over the Kashmir dispute remains. These events are also important in the Indian context as a reflection of the shifting politics of Indo-Pak relations.
In contrast to past eras, when ""Pak bashing"" was a reliable vote getter, friendship with Pakistan has now begun to resonate politically, which provides an element of ballast in the recast peace process that was lacking before.
MULFORD