Maturity exhibited this time both by India and Pakistan has brought about a sense of optimism that this time is for sure… The failure to dampen the willing spirit of both the arch rival countries in working towards peace (by Pathankot terror attack) is to say that both are determined to achieve peace. Kudos to Pakistan National Security Advisor Sartaz Aziz and his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval, they are responsible for saving the day. The comfort level and the chemistry between Mr. Aziz and Mr. Doval are said to be ‘high and working well’ and these factors are ‘doing magic’ for both the countries. In retrospection, from the Prime Ministerial level to the bureaucrat engagements and from the social jamborees to the cricket diplomacy, Pakistan and India had not been able to strike a right chord to ensure a sustainable bilateral engagement.
Sartaz Aziz and Ajit Doval—both of them are known for their diplomatic skills. The Pakistani has a glittering track when comes to the contributions he has made to his country. Sartaz Aziz is known “for driving the Pakistan’s national economy on free-market economics principle and initiated the economic liberalization and privatization programmes. The man is also considered the statesman.
The record of the Indian is no mean either. Ajit Doval, a former Indian Police Service (IPS) is conversant when comes to the Indo-Pak conflict for he had worked nearly seven years in Indian High Commission in Islamabad, Pakistan in the turbulent 1990s. Ajit Doval had also spent several years to bring the Mizo National Front (MNF) to the negotiating table in the 1980s.
Meanwhile, when we talk of the Indo-Pak issue it is all about the situation created by the ‘core issue’ (to Pakistan) or just ‘Kashmir issue’ (to India). For nearly seven decades the issue has been simmering. The last Viceroy of British India Lord Mountbatten had foreseen the present situation seventy years ago.
“You’re going to have two rival countries at daggers drawn for your neighbours…You will end up being in a battle field. That’s what’ll happen.”(Freedom at Midnight by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre). The Viceroy was cautioning Maharaja Hari Singh when the latter strongly asserted Kashmir to be ‘independent’.
Well, the Aziz-Doval venture has given a fresh impetus in the effort to find a viable vehicle of peace.
