Indo-Pak deadlock?

US secretary of state Ms Condoleza Rice came to Islamabad on a five-hour short trip to Islamabad and told Pakistan ‘to act’. Her deputy John D. Negroponte came a few days later to make sure Pakistan acts responsibly to UN Security Council decision to ban Jamat Dawa and Lashkar Taiba.

Pakistan is no doubt in a fix, a difficult position. On the one hand the government is crying under tremendous international pressure to act against suspected militants and on the other domestic political pressures prevent it from going too hard on these elements until and unless it is armed with solid evidence.

The PPP government is therefore trying to achieve a tricky balance. While cracking down on these outfits and detaining its leaders as part of its international obligation, it is fallen well short of officially proscribing these organizations. There is no word on it.

At the same time, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmoud Qureshi has again in a policy statement called for evidence from India. However, the foreign minister pointed that despite requests, no evidence or information has been shared with the government by India so far. His message also contained a veiled warning; ‘our own investigations cannot proceed beyond a certain point without provision of credible information and evidence…’So these seizures and detentions are more of ‘precautionary’ measures then anything else. Until and unless India shares evidence, Pakistan has made it clear it can’t proceed much further.

In Delhi, however, India has shown little willingness to accept Pakistan’s demand. Instead, India has sought custody of 40 suspects. The deadlock is quite visible.