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A diplomat and bilateral progress

Amit Baruah

High Commissioner Aziz Ahmed Khan is returning to Pakistan after a job well done. He can pat himself on the back at the end of a stellar innings.

— FILE PHOTO: Shanker Chakravarty

WINNING FRIENDS: Pakistan High Commissioner Aziz Ahmed Khan and his wife at a reception hosted by President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

AZIZ AHMED Khan crossed the Wagah border on July 1, 2003 to take charge as Islamabad's High Commissioner in New Delhi at a particularly difficult juncture in India-Pakistan relations. The Government of India had expelled the previous incumbent, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, on May 18, 2002 citing concerns about Pakistan's role in terrorist activities.

For more than a year, Pakistan did not have a High Commissioner in India. There were no air links, no over-flights, no bus links... . Indian troops had been mobilised; the bilateral environment was severely polluted. Pragmatists had conceded ground to the hawks in New Delhi.

On July 1, the day he arrived, Mr. Khan said at Pakistan House in New Delhi: "Pakistan wants good... neighbourly relations based on the internationally-recognised principles of sovereign equality... We would like to resolve all outstanding issues with India through peaceful means... including the Jammu and Kashmir issue."

Mr. Khan hoped that the process that started with the return of High Commissioners would gain momentum and move rapidly to the resumption of the dialogue process between the two countries. It was a minimalist agenda.

Transformed environment

As the High Commissioner prepares to leave for home on Thursday, India and Pakistan have not only restored communication links but also added new rail and bus services — including a never-thought-of-as-possible link between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad. The environment is transformed: Indians and Pakistanis are criss-crossing the border. Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Ahmed Kasuri came and attended the wedding of Union Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar's daughter — as if such things were the norm and not the exception.

Just a few days ago, Pakistan Foreign Secretary Riaz Muhammad Khan told the press in New Delhi that India and Pakistan had never had such substantive discussions on Jammu and Kashmir as had taken place in the restored composite dialogue. Quite a statement for a Pakistani official to make, considering that Islamabad has, mostly, accused India of putting on the backburner or brushing under the carpet the issue of Jammu and Kashmir.

And, the guns have been silent along the Line of Control and the international border since November 26, 2003. No mean achievement for two countries whose soldiers have habitually exchanged fire over decades and fought a "mini-war" over Kargil in the summer of 1999.

In April 2005, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Pervez Musharraf went as far as to commit to their two peoples that the peace process between India and Pakistan was "now irreversible."

Mr. Aziz Ahmed Khan can pat himself on the back at the end of a stellar innings. He is returning to Pakistan after a job well done. The dialogue process is on track; the relationship between the two countries is conducive for a dialogue — including on difficult issues. Mr. Khan is a cool customer. He can say the unpalatable without being offensive. The man who was once Pakistan's envoy to the Taliban regime in Kabul has shown that diplomats can play a major role in improving a difficult relationship.

Above all, the High Commissioner was not shrill. That is a tone that can elicit over-reaction: something that comes easily to the foreign policy establishment in New Delhi.

Yes, "exchanges" between India and Pakistan do continue, but Mr. Khan did not play any role in adding to the cacophony.

Luckily for the subcontinent, India had an equally polished and accomplished diplomat in Shivshankar Menon as Mr. Khan's counterpart in Islamabad. Mr. Menon, too, is a cool customer, not prone to overstatement.

Not that the issues have disappeared as India and Pakistan finally set up a joint mechanism to advance cooperation in the sphere of anti-terrorist action. Asked in August 2003 why Islamabad had not extended cooperation to India as it had to the United States in fighting terror, Mr. Khan told The Hindu: "Let the Indian delegation sit across the table and talk about these things." That is exactly what is happening now.

Mr. Khan added at the time: "We'll find out what cooperation they [the Indian side] need and what cooperation Pakistan can or has extended. These subjects cannot be discussed through the media..." Mr. Khan and his charming wife, Ayesha, will be missed in Delhi. They have many friends to re-visit.

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