A question of attitude The talks between Indo-Pak foreign ministers

Political Correspondent

If body language was any indicator, then the talks between Pakistan foreign minister Sartaz Aziz and Indian external affairs minister Jaswant Singh were doomed to failure even before they began. The atmosphere before the talks were to begin at Hyderabad House in New Delhi was tense as was to be expected but the stiffness with which the two ministers went about the affair signified that it was actually war that they were talking about and not just perfunctory talks about troop positions and militant intrusions. It was not shop talk between two ministers of two neighbours involving foreign trade; the avoidance of even eye contact as Singh tersely allowed Aziz right of way into the room where they held the talks could mean only one thing; this dialogue was one involving attitude.

However, finally, it is a question of attitude. The foreign minister-level talks have failed; there can be no question about that. Even the greatest of optimists among us would find it hard to believe that what is going on along the Kargil border is as cold as the temperature there; matters are indeed hot. It is a warlike situation and it would be only a matter of simple degrees and technicality before the battle for Kargils will qualify, much to the misfortune of both the nations, into a full-scale war. It is thus now a question of attitude. India must not be seen to wince. The Pakistan government and its Army have shown scant regard for even the bare essentials of decorum even in the times of war; the mutilated Indian corpses are enough proof of that. While mere hardening of position is definitely not the answer, India must not be seen to be weak in these troubled times. History has proved time and again that India is a country with an attitude; it is time again to prove that.