close
Thursday March 28, 2024

Pakistan, India have ‘Saas-Bahu type ties’: says Basit

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has dubbed the continuing tense relations with India as a typical “saas-bahu” relation but it is anyone’s guess who is the ‘saas’ in this scenario. Also the mood in Pakistan’s camp is that the recent meeting between the two foreign secretaries would lead to “something tangible”.“Indo-Pakistan relations are

By Mariana Baabar
March 21, 2015
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has dubbed the continuing tense relations with India as a typical “saas-bahu” relation but it is anyone’s guess who is the ‘saas’ in this scenario. Also the mood in Pakistan’s camp is that the recent meeting between the two foreign secretaries would lead to “something tangible”.
“Indo-Pakistan relations are riddled with conflicts and issues. Despite abundance of mutual goodwill, we have not allowed this relation to grow as normal. We talk to each other for years… one little incident on the Line of Control and we stop talking like saas and bahu,” Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit said during an event in Kolkata.
He later quickly apologised when the media asked for a clarification. “There is no harm in saying difficult things in a lighter vein. My intention was not to trivialise, but if you think that way, I apologise,” he said.
Many years ago it was Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who had raised eyebrows when he had allegedly called his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh a “dehati aurat”, before a bilateral meeting in New York.
In his first remarks after the recent meeting between the two foreign secretaries in Islamabad, Basit said, “Indian Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar’s meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry was very positive and would lead to something tangible,” but quickly added, “If India feels it is not yet the right time to talk, we can wait. But we will like to see this engagement to resume as quickly as possible. We are also not in a hurry in that sense,” he said.
For the moment Pakistan has its eyes on the Saarc summit next year, though unless there are continued meetings and deliberations, the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Pakistan would have little to offer in bilaterals. “The next summit will be in Pakistan and we hope that it will be a huge success because all Saarc leaders will be there. One hopes that Modi’s visit to Pakistan would add more to it beyond the Saarc issues,” Basit said. Later the high commissioner also visited the Chamber of Commerce where he remarked, “It’s a bizarre arrangement that we have. If there is visa restriction, how can you expect trade to realise its inherent potential?” Asking for further liberalisation of visas, he said it was not possible for people to carry out trade. The media quoted him criticising the scenario.
“We issue visa for only five cities. This is again a unique thing. Other countries issue country-specific visa, but in our cases, we issue city-specific visa. Indian citizens cannot visit more than five cities in Pakistan. Similarly, a Pakistani citizen, if he wants to come to India, he cannot visit more than five cities,” he said.
Pinning it down to the present political environment, he said if this did not change then glitches and hitches would continue to besiege businessmen.
“As far as trade is concerned, we are keen to augment bilateral trade and formal trade between the two countries. But obviously, at the moment when we are not talking to each other, talking only about trade would not take us anywhere,” he said.