India, Oct. 20 -- External affairs minister S Jaishankar's recent visit to Islamabad for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting was noticeably free of the usual acrimony between India and Pakistan. This warmth, singularly generated by the absence of acrimony, has raised hopes for a new dialogue process. However, this optimism, in my opinion, may be misplaced - the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government appears to have little appetite to initiate a comprehensive dialogue process with Pakistan. The age of unlimited optimism in India-Pakistan relations is long over - a new template of clinical minimalism has emerged, which might characterise the relationship going forward.

Between 2004 and 2008, the relationship between In...