Meeting of NSAs

Why in news?

National Security Advisers (NSAs) meeting between of India and Pakistan was recently held in Bangkok.

What are the ongoing tensions between India and Pakistan?

• Ceasefire violations on the Line of Control (LoC) spiked sharply more than 825 incidents in 2017, compared to 228 in 2016. Click here to know more.
• Pakistan arrested retired naval officer Kulbhushan Jadhav alleging that he was an R&AW agent in Baluchistan and denied consular access.
• After India went to the International Court of Justice, the death penalty awarded to him by a Pak military court was kept in abeyance.
• Public pronouncements by ministers and officials about Pakistan have been aggressive in recent days fuelling the turmoil.
• People-to-people engagement between the two countries has been limited, except for some medical cases of Pakistani nationals.
• The tensions in the Middle East and the role of Saudi Arabia in Pakistani domestic politics further complicates the situation.
• Apart from this Pakistan’s hostile relations with Afghanistan, and its parliamentary elections this year also makes bilateral Initiatives with India more complex.

What are the implications of the recent talks?

• It ended without any decisive conclusions.
• India demanded a Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) level talk.
• DGMOs of the two nations last met in December 2013, after a gap of 14 years.
• But Pak army has refused to offer such talks, probably fearing that it would be perceived as a sign of weakness.
• It is also yet to declare its causalities in LoC tensions.

What are the other channels of negotiations?

• India-Pakistan armies usually engage through weekly telephone calls between the two Military Operations (MO) directorates.
• A Brigadier from the Indian MO directorate and a Colonel from the Pakistani MO directorate usually talk on Tuesday mornings.
• The two DGMOs would also talk by telephone, if there is an urgent requirement.
• The two sides have used the emergency hotline mechanism in recent months to complain about particular incidents on the LoC.
• Apart from armies the DGs of Border security forces of both nations meet annually alternately in the two countries. ‘
• Track-2 engagement, mainly involving retired diplomats, military officials and commentators, mostly takes place in third countries.
• But these meetings have limited value and scope, unless blessed by the respective governments.

Source: The Indian Express