Islamabad, Jan 22: It is essential that Pakistan and India do not lose sight of the goal of peace and a normalisation of relations, a Pakistani daily said Tuesday, noting the two countries may have to agree to disagree.
An editorial in the News International said that introspection is a virtue and India, "with whom relations have become a little fractious of late, has had a bout of it in recent days to a positive end".
"Much of the heat in the wake of recent exchanges - and deaths of soldiers on both sides - was created in India by a media hosting 'jingoistic conversations' and discussing events out of context. Or just failing to contextualise at all, which is even worse," it said.
External Affairs Minister Salman Kurshid has said that the Indian government was not about to be influenced by these 'jingoistic conversations' and that the peace process with Pakistan was 'considerably' back on track.
"From the general tone of comments such as this coming from across the border, some of the heat of the last fortnight may be expected to dissipate. Pakistan and India may have to agree to disagree about whether or not an independent enquiry is the correct way forward - we believe it is - but we also have to move on from the LoC incidents," the editorial said.
It observed that the "next step must surely be a foreign-minister-level meeting to ensure continuity of upper-strata dialogue".
"Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar has already offered to meet her Indian counterpart but as yet there has been no response one way or the other. At an abstract conceptual level diplomacy transcends three-dimensionality and is not subject to the laws of physics. It is multi-dimensional and can move in seemingly opposite directions but have the same goal, though not always reached by treading exactly the same path for the two sides to reach the same destination," it added.
The daily stressed it is essential that we do not lose sight of the goal - which is peace and a normalisation of relations at every level.
"Incidents across a heavily armed LoC are probably inevitable and they must not be allowed to derail the wider project. Both sides appear ready at least in principle to dial-back on the rhetoric and engage diplomatically. This is as it should be, and it is time for cool heads and hands to prevail - and a little inwards reflection on both sides would not go amiss either."
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