Despite low expectations for talks between senior Indian and Pakistani leaders later this week, both nations view a continuing dialogue as critical to maintaining a semblance of peace and stability in the highly volatile South Asian region.

India and Pakistan will hold two days of foreign secretary-level talks on June 23-24 in Islamabad as part of a continuing peace dialogue between the two nations. The talks will cover a range of issues from security to trade, yet are expected to be dominated by terrorism-related issues. The talks also will set the stage for a foreign minister-level meeting to be held later this summer. The Indian delegation is expected to press Pakistan to take concrete action against the conspirators of the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack including members of the terrorist group, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna said on Monday that the Indian delegation will raise concerns that Pakistan’s intelligence arm, the ISI, was connected to the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack.

Analysis

New Delhi is growing increasingly frustrated with Islamabad over the slow pace of the judicial process for those individuals arrested in connection with the 2008 Mumbai attack. India argues that Pakistan’s foot-dragging is in sharp contrast to New Delhi’s recent announcement that charges have been filed against several Hindu activists suspected of orchestrating a 2007 attack on a railway link between New Delhi and Lahore -- killing sixty-eight mostly Pakistani citizens heading home on the Pakistan-bound train. However, Pakistan is eager to move beyond the Mumbai terrorist attack and is likely to attempt to shift the discussion to other issues such as the long-standing territorial dispute over Kashmir.

The divergent priorities of New Delhi and Islamabad make it highly unlikely that the upcoming meeting will result in any concrete breakthrough between the two nations. Yet India and Pakistan are expected to review nuclear-related confidence-building measures (CBMs) for the first-time in several years in a small effort to narrow the substantial deficit of trust between New Delhi and Islamabad. Despite the widely expected lack of progress on critical issues such as terrorism, the meetings will continue to serve as an important forum for essential dialogue between India and Pakistan.