US embassy cable - 04NEWDELHI7703

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 NEW DELHI 007703 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/07/2014 
TAGS: PREL, IN, PK, INDO-PAK, Kashmir 
SUBJECT: INDO-PAK TRACK II EXCHANGES STRONG, MARRED ONLY BY 
DISAGREEMENT ON KASHMIR 
 
 
Classified By: PolCouns Geoffrey Pyatt, Reasons 1.4 (B,D). 
 
1.  (C) Summary: As India and Pakistan move into Round II of 
their Composite Dialogue (CD), people-to-people exchanges 
continue at an accelerating pace, building goodwill, 
expanding non-official ties, and keeping up a positive 
atmosphere for formal talks.  The recent visit by Pakistani 
Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi to inaugurate 
the first-ever Punjab Games generated enormous good feeling, 
according to the Pakistani DCM, although Elahi possibly 
linked normalization of trade to progress on Kashmir.  During 
a December 2-7 visit to Delhi by retired senior Pakistani 
military officers organized by the India-Pakistan Soldiers' 
Initiative for Peace, participants from both sides agreed to 
use their influence to further rapprochement.  Track II 
activists are slowly becoming conscious of the soft power 
they wield, and are eager to build support for the official 
dialogue.  Kashmir remains the dark cloud over these 
people-to-people exchanges.  End Summary. 
 
Progress in Punjab 
------------------ 
 
2.  (C) Punjab, the one Indian state where anti-Pakistan 
sentiments have traditionally been the most intense, recently 
witnessed unusual cross-border interaction, including the 
most important visit by a Pakistani Punjabi politician in 
memory.  Pakistani High Deputy Commissioner Munawar Saeed 
(protect) told Polcouns on December 3 that Chief Minister 
Elahi had an unprecedented reception from the moment he 
arrived in Amritsar, commenting "I've never seen anything 
like it."  He said the mood in Chandigarh was also very 
positive -- "nearly euphoric" -- an assessment echoed in the 
Indian press.  Elahi's later comment that trade between the 
two Punjabs will not take off until core issues such as 
Kashmir were resolved doused enthusiasm somewhat.  Even so, 
Elahi predicted that overall relations would improve, adding 
that PM Manmohan Singh's anticipated visit to Pakistan in 
2005 to go a long way in this effort. 
 
3.  (SBU) Continuing the successful series of Indo-Pak 
sporting events, particularly cricket and hockey, the 
first-ever Punjab Games (December 5-10) united more than 750 
athletes from the two countries.  Traditional Punjabi sports 
-- wrestling, field hockey and kabaddi (a team sport 
combining elements of rugby, wrestling and tag) -- and 
Olympic sports such as basketball, cycling, and marksmanship 
are on the program.  Although over 100 of the Pakistani 
athletes submitted their visa applications late, Indian 
immigration officials garnered goodwill by allowing them 
special entry through the Wagah border after its scheduled 
closing.  The Games are to be an annual event, with Lahore 
hosting in 2005. 
 
Old Soldiers Never Die -- They Join Track II Groups 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
4.  (SBU) Another recent Track II event passed with less 
fanfare, but was reflective of broadening dialogue between 
the two countries.  Seventeen retired senior Pakistani 
military officers -- including lieutenant generals, admirals, 
and an air marshal -- were in India December 2-7 for meetings 
with Indian counterparts under the auspices of the 
India-Pakistan Soldier's Initiative for Peace.  At a 
closed-door roundtable that Poloff attended, speakers from 
both sides agreed that the peace process under the Composite 
Dialogue was critical to refocusing budgets from defense to 
human development.  Poloff was struck by participants' 
comments that especially in Pakistan "retired officers can 
impact policy."  The only stumbling point during the day was 
disagreement over whether Kashmir should be the first order 
of business between New Delhi and Islamabad, with 
representatives from both sides reverting to their 
governments' traditional positions and one Pakistani 
brigadier asking rhetorically, "If your Kashmiris are so 
happy, why not hold a plebiscite?"  That brief flare-up soon 
died down, however, after both delegations agreed that they 
had more commonalties than differences. 
 
5.  (SBU) Former Indian Chief of Naval Staff Admiral L 
Ramdas, who brought retired senior Indian officers to 
Pakistan in 2001, headed the Indian side.  The Pakistani 
group included retired Corps Commanders LTG Nasir Akhtar 
(Karachi), LTG Humayun Khan Bangash (Lahore and later 
Ambassador to Turkey), and MG Nawaz Chaudhry, Defense Attache 
to the US in the mid-1980s.  After the roundtable, which was 
organized by the MOD think-tank Institute for Defense Studies 
and Analysis, the Pakistani delegation met with New Delhi 
Chief Minister Sheila Dixit, and a small group later saw Home 
Minister Shivraj Patil.  Their other stops in India included 
Amritsar, Agra, and Jaipur. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
6.  (SBU) These two events are the most recent examples of 
the proliferation of cross-border exchanges that are 
connecting Indian and Pakistani businesspeople, 
professionals, students, journalists, athletes, and others. 
We are struck by participants' sense of the soft power they 
wield, which vests both countries in their ongoing dialogue, 
even as friction over the Kashmir dispute remains.  These 
events are also important in the Indian context as a 
reflection of the shifting politics of Indo-Pak relations. 
In contrast to past eras, when "Pak bashing" was a reliable 
vote getter, friendship with Pakistan has now begun to 
resonate politically, which provides an element of ballast in 
the recast peace process that was lacking before. 
MULFORD