Pakistan-India Held Secret Talks Over Kashmir Dispute, Reuters
The talks were arranged in a new effort to calm military tension over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir
The tension between India and Pakistan over Kashmir dispute has matured in the past years, however, Reuters, world’s one of the largest news agencies, claimed that the top intelligence officers from both states held secret talks in Dubai in January.
The secret talks were arranged in a new effort to calm military tension over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.
“Ties between the nuclear-armed rivals have been on ice since a suicide bombing of an Indian military convoy in Kashmir in 2019 traced to Pakistan-based militants that led to India sending warplanes to Pakistan”, the report read.
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After the incident, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi withdrew Indian-ruled Kashmir’s autonomy to tighten the grip over the region.
This provoked outrage in Pakistan but now, the two governments have reopened a backchannel aiming at normalizing the ties.
“Kashmir has long been a flashpoint between India and Pakistan, both of which claim all of the regions but rule only in part”, it added.
“Officials from India’s Research and Analysis Wing, the external spy agency, and Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence traveled to Dubai for a meeting facilitated by the United Arab Emirates government”.
However, Pakistani defence analyst Ayesha Siddiqa maintained that the talks had been held for several months in different countries including Thailand, Dubai, and London.
Such meetings were never publicly admitted as a lot can go wrong.
“Nobody is talking it up in public, we don’t even have a name for this, it’s not a peace process. You can call it a re-engagement”, admitted an official in Delhi.
Myra MacDonald, who is the author of a book on India, Pakistan, and Kashmir dispute, was of the view that it is better to talk than not to and even better to do it quietly out of the public glare.
Following the secret talks, both states announced to halt cross-borders shooting along the Line of Control (LoC).
Additionally, both sides have also signaled to hold elections on their sides of Kashmir.
“There is as yet, however, no grand plan to resolve the 74-year-old Kashmir dispute”, the report concluded.
