Sachin Parashar  

India will have its first official engagement with the Imran Khan government in Pakistan with a team of officials travelling to Islamabad this week for a meeting of the Permanent Indus Commission.

While India has justified water talks in the past as a “mandatory requirement” under Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), the timing of the meet on this occasion is significant as it will come just a week after Khan took over as PM.

Pakistan under Khan has appealed to India to move beyond the cycle of dialogue and disruption. While India remains cautious mainly because of its concerns over cross-border terrorism, PM Narendra Modi earlier wrote to Khan expressing commitment to meaningful and constructive engagement with Pakistan.

Despite both sides wanting “constructive’’ engagement, any comprehensive dialogue is ruled out for now. However, meetings on the Indus waters and engagement on the sidelines of multilateral events are being considered by India as these involve little risk of undermining its official position that there can be no substantive talks with Islamabad until it acts against India-specific terror groups.

Sachin.Parashar@timesgroup.com

Courtesy: Times of India: 27 Aug 2018