Even as India and Pakistan debate the nuances of shared territories and political relations, for the average person on the streets its another tedious round of verbal juggernaut. However, this is not to say that the much-trumpeted Track I and Track II diplomatic channels are on a way out.
But there is also air of scepticism since umpteen rounds of political and diplomatic talks between two sides having fared poorly to crack the 50-year-old conundrum.
The alternative path to peace - people to people contact - has come up as a new glimmer of hope for millions of families and is also referred to as the lesser recognised Track III channel of establishing peace.
What do we mean by 'tracks' of Peace?
Of the 9 forms or "tracks" of intervention in conflict- the first involves official or governmental intervention, while the other eight involve nongovernmental, non-official intervention.
Among the eight tracks of non-state intervention is "peacemaking through professional conflict resolution"-what is more generally known as second track or Track II diplomacy.
A distinctive feature of second track diplomacy is that academics, nongovernmental organizations, or individuals organize "analytical" or "interactive" problem-solving workshops with two or more parties to a conflict in order to bring about conflict resolution.
In our case this involves People to People contacts such as those undertaken by the Pak Women Delegations or the Indian Member of Parliament delegations.
A successful example of Track II diplomacy was the sharing of groundwater by Israelis and Palestinians was resolved by involving responsible citizens and academics and without the involvement of a single diplomat.
A deepening of the thaw between India and Pakistan results in the searching for 'issues of commonality' as opposed to 'issues of conflict'.