Cong leadership keeps arm length from Pak talks

NEW DELHI: The government may have decided that it was time it went back to the negotiating table with Pakistan but Congress leadership seems to be keeping a safe distance of the exercise. The Congress Working Committee, which met here on Friday, refrained from discussing the initiative which is seen as the first step towards resumption of composite dialogue stalled in the wake of 26/11 attack on Mumbai.

Always a politically fraught issue, ties with Pakistan have become even more sensitive because of Islamabad's reluctance to crack down on jehadi groups targeting India. Yet, sources said the issue has not been discussed so far even once at the Core Group, the highest decision-making body of the party.

That would make the move for foreign secretary-talks seem purely a government business.

The party would like it that way because the strategic aloofness can firewall it against the adverse fallout of any terror attack -- a real possibility, according to Indian as well as international intelligence agencies -- when the government is talking peace with Pakistan.

That the party leadership will prefer caution to bold diplomatic manoeuvres with Pakistan is a known secret. Sources stress that for the restoration of normalcy in ties to happen, Pakistan ought to sincerely try to bring the 26/11 masterminds to book.

PMO, however, sees profit in re-engagement, and hopes that the dialogue, besides undercutting the perception of India being unreasonable, can be used to nudge Pakistan to act against terror groups.

The gap between the two sides was evident when the party washed its hands off the ill-fated Sharm el-Sheikh joint statement. The fiasco and the bedlam that it caused back home has enhanced the premium on prudence.

That is why the party is expected to keep an eye on happenings even as it stays aloof. As diplomats from the two countries prepare to get down to hammer out the agenda for the foreign secretary-level talks, the leadership's assessment will determine the length to which the government can go to meet Pakistan's insistence on having a full-scale composite dialogue.