Lessons from Agra

After the trumpets and the fanfare has come the mournful dirge lamenting the ‘failure’ of the India-Pakistan summit at Agra. An expected reaction perhaps, but a trifle hasty. For after all, it would seem that the summit floundered on two old issues, cross border terrorism and the centrality of a resolution on Kashmir to the mitigation of IndiaPakistan tensions. Given this it is hard to see why there is such a desperate urgency about issuing a final report card on the summit. Surely, the two days of president Musharaff’s visit were not expected to unravel the many snags and snarls in the fabric of India-Pakistan relationship? Then again, in the light of the history of other high-level meetings between the two countries, the success or failure of a summit can only be reckoned by what happens afterwards. And in that sense surely it is too early to issue a report card on Agra?