Daleel with SP Singh - India , Pak ties | Narendra Modi , Nawaz Sharif Meeting

On the panel - 1. Gobind Thukral Expert on Indo-Pak affairs 2. Prof Bhupinder Singh Brar Political scientist & geo-strategic affairs expert 3. Sarabjit Pandher Senior Journalist, The Sunday Guardian Within hours of the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan meeting in Ufa, Russia and the ensuing Joint Statement that the Foreign Secretaries of the two countries read out, Pakistan changed tunes and Sartaj Aziz said Kashmir was very much on the agenda, Lakhvi was not. The Joint Statement had kept out Kashmir, while saying that all outstanding issues will be discussed. This triggered a massive controversy, but India has shown restraint, saying it will go by what Pakistan government tells New Delhi, not by what Pak leadership tells its own people. This episode of DALEEL with SP SINGH raises a fundamental question -- Is Pakistan doing the right thing by managing its domestic constituency while working with India to ensure incremental progress in bilateral ties? Or does the controversy show that any effort will become a prisoner to radical constituencies that have a logic and force of their own? Also, it asks whether Pakistan has a leadership at the helm that is as invested in smoothening relationship as a string of Indian premiers -- Vajpayee, Manmohan Singh, Narendra Modi? The latest Modi-Sharif meeting was on the sidelines of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, a grand platform that also showed that India has arrived on the world stage. Will the "actionable propositions" agreed upon in the Joint Statement lead anywhere? Panelist Gobind Thukral underlines how the India-Pakistan track is being managed at PMO level. The MEA did not know much. When the anchor points out that Pakistan does not have a full-time foreign minister, not even a full-time defence minister, a portfolio that Nawaz Sharif has kept with himself, preferring to run the country with two sherpas -- Sartaj Aziz (adviser to PM on national security and foreign affairs) and Tariq Fatemi (special assistant to P.M. on foreign affairs). As SP Singh says this was a messy arrangement and there is a structural problem of civil-military relations with five shops dealing with India policy in Pakistan --- PMO, MoFA-Aziz, MoFA-Fatemi, GHQ and GHQ-ISI -- Gobind Thukral comes back hard with a question, asking, "Who is your foreign minister? Do you have a full time foreign minister?" Sarabjit Pandher, a seasoned journalist who has spent a decade and a half with The Hindu and is currently with The Sunday Guardian, underlines the failure of Punjab to project itself as a stakeholder in the India, Pakistan narrative. Pandher makes a strong pitch for Punjab, saying on both sides of the Radcliffe Line, it is Punjabis who suffer the most, sometimes to "take" Kashmir, sometimes to "save" Kashmir. This episode of DALEEL with SP SINGH was telecast on PTC News on July 15, 2015. Feedback, suggestions welcome at singh.india@gmail.com. Also, please help spread the word about DALEEL,