July 20th, 2009 
Aman Joint Statement A few days ago, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani had met on the side lines Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit held in Egyptian city Sharm el-Sheikh. After the meeting it was announced that both the nations have agreed to restart the dialog and it was also decided that terrorism will not be allowed to thwart dialog process again. After the meeting between both the Prime Ministers the official statement was made which has created ambiguity as both the parties are interpreting it differently. But speaking to the reporters, Indian PM had said that his Pakistani counterpart wanted to start the dialog ‘here and now’ but he was told that ‘the dialogue cannot begin unless and until the terrorist acts of Mumbai are fully accounted for and the perpetrators are brought to book’. It is very clear neither the Indian leadership nor the Indian public will accept the dialog until Pakistan does not take concrete steps against the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack. Both the parties are exploiting the ambiguous term of the declaration. This term says that ‘action on terrorism should not be linked to the Composite Dialogue process and these [sic] should not be bracketed.’ Both the parties are interpreting it according to their own words and have different perceptions. Aspects of Meeting Before the meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had addressed the NAM meeting in which he said that not only the terrorists but those who support and help them should be dealt strictly. Singh had made this statement without naming anyone but it is clear that everyone had understood the true meaning of this statement. His statement has been made the part of the final declaration of the Sharm el-Sheikh summit. There are two aspects of the meeting of the Indo-Pak PMs. First is that Indian has left its old stand of no dialog until terrorist infrastructure is not dismantled. And the second is that Pakistani PM Gilani accepted and announced that perpetrators of the Mumbai attack will be dealt with strictly and brought to justice. But media has presented only first part of the outcome of this meeting while the second has not been even touched. On the other hand opposition has raked up this issue and had even staked a walk-out in the parliament. Investigations We saw many dramatic changes prior to and after this [...]
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