ISAS Briefs

The most strikingly remarkable feature of the visit of the Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari to India on 8 April 2012 is that it took place at all! Analysts generally would agree that the level of the current understanding (or the lack thereof) between the two countries would not extend to the felt need for warm hospitality to be accorded by one to the other. Yet this has happened. It does not necessarily signal a thaw in relations between the two often-implacable South Asian protagonists. But it certainly points to the palpable desire on both sides for such a phenomenon to begin. Rational acts in their bilateral relations seem to come in sudden flashes. This occasion was one such. It was billed ‘private’. That was largely because to call it ‘official’ would have heightened expectations. Too often too many hopes have been raised in the past between the two. Those were only to be dashed to the ground almost immediately. Also, given their prevalent tensions, an official visit by one to the other would have brought grist to the mill of ardent detractors in both nations. They are, as the world knows, legion. The low-key nature of such a rare event is, therefore, quite understandable.