Unfortunately, however, the previous confidence building measures do not seem to have done much to build confidence. Even the Interior Minister's visit described as a "goodwill trip" was not free of an unnecessary glitch. His arrival in Delhi was delayed by more than three hours because officials wouldn't give security clearance to a military plane carrying him.
For its part, Pakistan made a historic shift in its old policy toward its traditional rival when it decided to untie business and trade normalisation from resolution of outstanding issues of conflict, especially the core issue of Kashmir - something India had always wanted. The hope has been that trade and people-to-people contacts will create constituencies of peace, leading to a gradual settlement of old disputes. So far, there is no sign of that happening on the Indian side. That country has little to show for its sincerity in moving the peace process forward. The less contentious issues such as Sir Creek, on which much spade work has been done, remain undecided. Then there is the futile stand-off on the Siachen Glacier. Pakistan is willing to move back to the pre-1984 positions - when Indian soldiers surreptitiously climbed up the uninhabited Siachen heights in violation of the Simla Agreement to set up positions there - but the other side remains adamant to maintain control over 'present positions'. On Kashmir too, although the Musharraf regime is widely known to have stopped any cross-border movement from this side, just a few days ago Indian officials once again blamed Islamabad for their troubles in the Valley where young people have been confronting the Indian security forces, like the first Palestinian Intifada, with stones only.
Although the composite dialogue process has resumed after a long hiatus following the Mumbai attacks, New Delhi remains stuck on the single point agenda that that Pakistan first prosecute those suspected of masterminding the atrocity. The sense of horror that the terrorist attack generated is understandable. Islamabad has its constraints, too, when it says it is ready to fully cooperate with Delhi in bringing the alleged perpetrators to justice, but in order to do that it needs to have evidence that can stand in a court of law. Besides, India must not forget that it has taken forever to bring the perpetrators of the February 2007 bombing of the Pakistan-bound Samjhota Express in which 68 people, mostly Pakistanis, were burned to death and dozens others badly injured. It is well established that the perpetrators belonged to a Hindu extremist group led by an Indian army officer. Still, no one has been punished. Suspects in both cases have been extremists and their motive the same: to disrupt the peace process. Thus even though Delhi has every reason to be irate over Mumbai, by holding back on the peace process it is actually granting extremists their wish. Encouraged by Indian attitude some right-wing groups gathered under the banner of 'Defence of Pakistan Council' are gearing to undermine the normalisation process by leading protest processions to Wahgah border. Such attempts are unlikely to undermine a broad consensus that exists in this country for a peaceful resolution of all issues of conflict with India. Still, the consensus will be weekend if India continues to drag its feet using one pretext or another not to walk the talk of peace.