The initiative for the talks was taken by India and Pakistan accepted the invitation after some dithering, some posturing and some insistence for composite dialogue framework.  

A day after the talks were announced, a bomb ripped through a bakery popular with tourists and young Indians in Pune, killing 15 people.

At least one of three Sikhs who were abducted for a Rs. 30 million ransom about a month ago by the Pakistani Taliban was killed on Sunday, Feb 21. The murdered man, Jaspal Singh, and his fellow kidnap victims were lived in Khyber Agency’s Tirah Valley.  A couple of days ago a Hindu was kidnapped, again for ransom.  

The killing of minorities by the Taliban is not a new issue; their elimination and demands for the payment of a jizya tax have been an ideological staple of the Taliban. The plight of Christian, Hindu and Sikh minorities in and near Swat and the tribal areas is particularly precarious, with their livelihoods and day-to-day existence threatened by the encroaching presence of the Taliban, as a Dawn Columnist, US-based attorney,   Rafia Zakaria, says.

Indian officials said the agenda will focus on terrorism, although they are leaving the door open to more extensive discussions. ‘We hope we can build, in a graduated manner, better communication and a serious and responsive dialogue to address issues of concern between our two countries,’ Nirupama Rao told a conference organised by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London.

The essential focus of the talks, she said, would be on persuading Pakistan to dismantle militant groups behind attacks on India. ‘Terror groups … continue to recruit, train and plot attacks from safe havens across our borders’.

Composite dialogue, which Pakistan insisted in the run up to the latest Delhi round, is a Delhi invention. In January 2004 it tied the dialogue to progress on the part of Pakistan in addressing its concerns on terrorism front when Gen Pervez Musharraf was in the Islamabad saddle.  The Zardari government has been trying to wriggle out of the linkage.

Though there has been no structured dialogue since 26/11, leaders of the two countries have been meeting at the highest level at regular intervals.

Musharraf met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at Havana in September 2006, Singh and President Zardari talked in Russia while attending a security summit in 2008, and Singh and Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani met in the Egypt resort city of Sharm-el-Sheikh in July, 2009.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wants the Feb 25 talks to become the start of a new dialogue process different from the composite dialogue, the Daily Times reports. The Lahore daily in a despatch from New Delhi credits Singh for the initiative for the talks, saying he wanted to keep off US pressure.

That Pakistan is eager for talks is clear for a long while. And it is confirmed by the Washington Post which reported (Feb 24) that President Obama promised (Islamabad) in December (2009) that he would help reduce tensions with India in exchange for Pakistan’s increased cooperation against insurgents.

On its part , Pakistan would have loved to send officials of water and power ministry as well with the foreign secretary but India has forced a change in the composition of the delegation, Baqir Sajjad Syed reported in the Dawn quoting unnamed diplomatic sources in Islamabad.
The Pakistan group finalised for the Delhi visit includes the foreign secretary, additional secretary for Asia-Pacific region, FO spokesman, director generals of South Asia and Strategic Planning, director of India desk and two directors from the foreign secretary’s office, the despatch said.

SIGNIFICANT DATES IN INDIA-PAK TIES
Aug. 14, 1947: India becomes a free nation. Pakistan is created..

Nov 2008    :  Pak based LeT attacks Mumbai, 165 killed