CAS article no: 0021/2015
Courtesy: India Strategic Defence Magazine, October 2015 issue
A 16 member Pakistani delegation led by Major General Umar Farooq Burki, Director General Pakistan Rangers (Punjab) reached New Delhi September 9 to hold talks with D K Pathak, Director General Border Security Force (BSF). The delegations of both the countries included respective officials of home ministry, foreign affairs, narcotics control and survey departments.
The last DG level talks were held at Lahore in December 2013 and the next meeting would be held in 2016 in Pakistan. The present DGs meeting has nothing to do with the meeting of Indian and Pakistani Prime Ministers at Ufa. Nonetheless, it did generate a lot of interest – and expectations – because of cancellation of Foreign Secretaries and National Security Advisors (NSAs) level talks, which had been scheduled earlier.
It may be recalled that Foreign Secretaries’ meeting was cancelled due to the meeting of Abdul Basit, Pakistani High Commissioner with the leaders of The All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) and NSAs level talks were called off last minute by Pakistan at the behest of the Pak army.
In fact the present meeting of DGs is the result of 1989 negotiations held between the Home Secretaries of both the countries, which had decided that the top leadership of BSF and Pak Rangers would hold Bi-Annual talks and review the execution of agreed terms and conditions, including prevention of smuggling especially drug smuggling, cross border infiltration, firing incidents etc.
Major General Burki also met Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh who promised that India will never indulge in provocative actions as it wants to have friendly relations with Pakistan. The Home Minister also stated that India has more Muslim population than Pakistan and it is the only country in the world which has all 72 Firkas (Sects). A difficult situation arose when Pakistani delegation insisted that monitoring of ceasefire violation and infiltration should be supervised by the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP). The Indian side however, took a principled stand pointing out that the UNMOGIP had lost its utility and was no longer relevant.
The talks were held in a peaceful atmosphere and both sides stressed upon the need for cooperation and maintenance of the sanctity of the borders. The issue of unintentional border crossing by residents of border villages and their smooth repatriation was also discussed, as also the question of security and safety of population of border villages. Both sides decided to exchange the mobile numbers and email addresses of senior officers so that prompt action can be taken in case of firing or any other emergency. Both sides decided, not to resort to mortars firing and agreed that no new structure would be constructed within 50 yards of International borders without the permission of other side. It was also decided that as a confidence building measure (CBM), a joint sports competition would be held in Amritsar before the next meeting of DGs. However, Indian side’s suggestion for joint Patrolling by the security forces of both the countries to prevent illegal infiltration, smuggling and ceasefire violations was not accepted by the Pak delegation.
COMMENT The fruitful outcome of negotiations between DGs is very important as both sides of the border are densely populated and the firing hurts both Indians and Pakistanis alike. The recent firings by both sides have killed several innocent civilians, their houses destroyed and cattle lost. Hundreds of villagers had to abandon their houses, cattle, fields compelling them to take shelter in other villages.
The ceasefire agreement of 2003 which remained effective for more than a decade could be reviewed, if required but needs to be put back into place. If the sanctity of the border is maintained by the border guarding forces of both the countries the sufferings of inhabitants of border villages would be reduced to a great extent leading ultimately to the establishment of cordial relations between the two countries.
Pak Army which formulates Pakistan’s India policy towards India, it seems, would never allow cordial relations with India. Pakistan army and several Islamic fundamentalist outfits have developed petty interests and they propagate that Pakistan will capture Kashmir and will take revenge of the defeat of 1971 war. This rhetoric keeps the uneducated masses of Pakistan anti India. However, while the possibility of durable peace between India and Pakistan appears remote, it is hoped the meetings between top ranking officers of border guarding forces of both the countries could result in much needed relief to the residents of border villages and should therefore be encouraged to be held regularly.
(Jai Kumar Verma is a Delhi-based strategic analyst.)
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