In fact, the get-together of prime ministers of Pakistan and India on the sidelines of the World Cup semi-final at Mohali wasn't the first of its kind between them; they had met twice before in similar settings at Sharm el-Sheikh and Thimphu expressing intentions to give a 'new beginning' to the bitter bilateral relations between Pakistan and India. As to the Sharm el-Sheikh meeting, the upshot from their meeting was that Dr Manmohan Singh agreed to discuss Indian hand in the turmoil in Balochistan.
However, upon return home it turned out to be neither here nor there as Dr Singh asserted that nothing of the sorts was committed. The so-called 'Thimphu spirit' has survived though only in terms of talking the talk. If we are supposed to believe that the recently held conference is indeed that ice-breaking move we would wait how the good intentions expressed climb down from the drawing board and influence the realities on the ground.
Such a meeting as the two prime ministers held at Mohali, we believe, should have unlocked the door that keeps shut the Composite Dialogue. After all some moves forward should have taken place as a result of that broader framework of bilateral arrangement. Given that both Dr Singh and his guest Yousuf Raza Gilani are presently not so happily placed in their countries because of the stiff challenges to their persons and their governments' aging years, we would like some immediate 'next steps' to clothe the bare bones of the good intentions expressed at Mohali where the ambience was immensely helpful thanks to the pervasive positive spirit that always accompanies sport events.
We have failed to comprehend the sense of the remark made by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh when he said, "We should put our ancient animosities behind us to attend to the problems of our nations". How 'ancient' he did not elaborate; of course it's not any reference to his pre-partition life in Potohar where he was born and spent his childhood or further back in time. According to Oxford Advanced Dictionary of Current English, the word 'ancient' means "belonging to times long past". But what is on our plate, are the problems that have cropped up since Independence, mostly because of the Indian political faith that Pakistan is not a reality. If Kashmir is the problem - not an issue as General Musharraf would have liked us to believe - then it is not covered by the expression 'ancient animosities'. Sixty-three years on, after the Indian army moved in to occupy the Muslim-majority state, Kashmir has been on the front burner, sometimes spurting out in big flames as now with third generation of Kashmiris on the streets braving bullets in defiance of foreign occupation. Can't India immediately pull out its troops which have earned the land of Gandhi nothing but ignominy and public shame? It's high time now to move from sheer words to concrete work. Quite a few problems like Indian presence in Siachen and the Sir Creek demarcation are ready for announcement. Ideally, Dr Manmohan Singh could have made these announcements from the ground of Mohali, his tribute to the spirit of cricket.
But he did not, telling his guest, indirectly, that cricket is a full-time entertainment. That Prime Minister Gilani took along some four score and ten guests at state expense to watch the semi-final only to be told to put aside the 'ancient animosities'; is a bad bargain. Quite often the economic priorities of the present government are mind-boggling; on one hand the Higher Education Commission is wound up on the other Rs 3 billion worth additional parliamentary lodges are going to be constructed. That the prime minister was not properly briefed on the futility of mixing the drinks at Mohali where cricket was the centrepiece of the high drama and that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was not in any position to make any real gesture towards resolving the issues that confront the two countries, is indeed worrying.