P.K. Upadhyay replies: The Indo-Pakistani relations usually do not dramatically improve or worsen with the change of regimes in Pakistan. There are some fundamentals that drive Pakistani attitude towards India and those have remained unchanged. The Indo-Pakistani relations during Nawaz Sharif's current term have also neither improved in tune with his pre-election pronouncements, nor have brought the two countries to the brink of an open war despite some periodic tensions on the LoC.

The seemingly positive statements Nawaz Sharif had been making on Indo-Pakistani relations were the remarks, may be off the cuff, of a politician trying to enlist maximum support for himself from every constituency in the country. Pakistani traders are a constituency who would like a limited improvement in relations with India as it would benefit them, and Nawaz Sharif was hoping to have them onboard by his positive statements on trade with India. However, once in power, like every other Pakistani leader, Nawaz Sharif too is susceptible to various influences and pressures which he cannot ignore and must let them have their way in influencing country's India policy. Even the Pakistani traders do not stand for a comprehensive economic cooperation with India. One can see this phenomenon behind Pakistan going back on its own declaration of intention to grant India the Most Favoured Nation status!

P.K. Upadhyay replies: 'People-to-people' contact means interaction between the normal citizens of two countries at various levels without any official interference and guidance. For such contacts, they obviously have to obtain proper visas and travel documents, but the state's role would end there and beyond that it is the spirit of their interaction and understanding which would shape up ideas, thoughts and responses. Such contacts could be through professional bodies like the bar councils, traders' chambers and associations, industrialists' groups, educational institutions and artists, musicians, singers, film personalities, sportsmen and women, etc. Even free exchange of books, publications and newspapers and television programmes would also fall in the ambit of people-to-people contacts because of their impact on opinion-making and improving relations.

In the context of Indo-Pakistani relations, the people-to-people contacts have not been able to attain the heights they could have. While on individual levels relationship between an Indian and a Pakistani living in a third country may be very warm, but the chemistry of these contacts undergo a radical change when they meet as a Pakistani and an Indian. One can see this phenomenon in the TV debates on our news channels in which some Pakistanis participate along with some Indian panellists. Such debates invariably turn into a slanging match, with Pakistani participants generally avoiding logic and reason (I am sure Pakistanis would have the same thing to say for our participants in such Indo-Pakistani TV discussions). This is because of the Pakistani mindset that has been conditioned by their skewed education policies that have created generations of young and old Pakistanis who are guided by dogmas and not logic and reason. Till Pakistan changes this mindset, one fears the future of people-to-people contacts between the two countries would remain bleak, be it trade, culture, sports or any other field, except for medical treatment for Pakistanis in India, which they praise while in India, but go silent once they cross back into Pakistan.