India-Pak ties go grassroots, a working group on local governance next week

Officials are calling the JWG “tentative baby steps” towards exploring the potential of cooperation among local bodies but it has the potential to take Indo-Pak engagement several leaps forward bringing in a whole new set of “democratic” stakeholders into the peace process.

Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Meenakshi Datta Ghosh will visit Pakistan next week to formalise the group. The agreement is expected to be reached on December 22 though final details are still being worked out. “I think it is a good thing to happen. It is will allow us to exchange ideas,” she told The Sunday Express.

The idea is to share the experience of local self-governance on both sides and build on ideas of greater cooperation between local bodies. The JWG, sources said, will bring a whole new set of issues dealt at a local level on the table. In the long run, it could help create a stake for new political actors in the peace process, especially in the context of Kashmir.

When Musharraf’s proposals were discussed for the first time through official channels at the third round of Foreign Secretary-level talks in January, India had said it was willing to expand engagement among representative institutions on both sides of the Line of Control so that specific ideas on issues like tourism promotion and environment protection could be worked upon.

“We have spoken about self-governance. For us self-governance is something which means that there should be representative institutions… so, we are willing to hear from Pakistan what are the kind of steps that would be taken, for example, with regard to such representative institutions being created on the other side. We can then look at some areas where we can work together..,” then Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran had said while responding to Musharraf’s proposal on self-governance after the talks.

The idea, which was developed further by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, first came up during talks between Panchayati Raj Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar and Pakistan National Reconstruction Bureau Chairman Daniyal Aziz. However, the initial response from governments on both sides was to keep it an informal exchange of ideas.