The Pakistani media has hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership and said “he has brought India to the point where the nation has begun to cast a wider net of its influence and impact…while Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif begs the world for financial crumbs”.

Underlining these achievements, the English language ‘The Express Tribune’ editorial also pointed to the fact that India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has grown to over three trillion dollars.   The write-up mentioned about India’s expanding global footprint and its growing stature and heft on the world stage under Modi’s leadership. Under Prime Minister Modi, “India’s foreign policy has treaded skillfully and its GDP has grown to over $3 trillion,” the daily wrote.

Calling it ‘monumental progress’, Shahzad Chaudhry, a noted political, security, and defence analyst, writing in The Express Tribune, called India a preferred destination for all investors.

The writer said India has established its own domain on the foreign policy front. India is also a big producer of agricultural products and the IT industry adding “in agriculture, their yields per acre are comparable to the best in the world and despite being a country of over 1.4 billion people, it remains a relatively steady, coherent and functional polity”.

“Modi has done something to brand India that none before him could manage. Importantly, India does what it feels and to the extent it needs,” he wrote.

Chaudhary pointed out that even as Pakistan slides deeper into an economic crisis while Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif begs the world for financial crumbs, neighbouring country India is progressing day by day.

The writer warned that now Sharif will have to think seriously about how to improve Pakistan’s economy. Chaudhary said now times have changed a lot. India has become the country in the world with which America and Russia, who do not see eye to eye with each other, are standing.

Chaudhary also mentioned India’s progress and Modi’s leadership saying no one talks about Modi in Pakistan. He is no less than an anonymous personality in this country. But the reality is that no one has been able to do the work that Modi has done to brighten India’s image at the international level, he said adding India is getting stronger day by day and the Pakistan Government will have to keep this in mind.

“India’s dream is to become the third largest economy in the world by the year 2037 and it can achieve it. It has already overtaken the UK to the fifth position. Foreign exchange reserves have also reached 600 billion dollars. While Pakistan has only $ 10.19 billion in foreign exchange reserves left,” the writer said.

According to him, “whether it is business or IT or military, India is no longer behind anyone. Even now countries like Saudi Arabia are ready to invest up to $72 billion in India but turn their backs on Pakistan. Pakistan has to beg for up to seven million dollars. China, an old and dear friend, has also started cutting corners”.

“It is time to recalibrate our policy towards India and be bold enough to create a tri-nation consensus, along with China, focusing on Asia to be the spur for wider economic growth and benefit. That alone will turn geoeconomics into a strategy. Breaking away from convention and boldness in conception can address this newer paradigm. Or we may be reduced to the footnote of history,” he concluded.

Meanwhile, an old video of a speech by Prime Minister Modi is also trending across the border. Leaders of Imran Khan’s party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf, are sharing a clip of Modi to slam the Sharif government over Pakistan’s financial crisis. The video shows Modi’s speech in Rajasthan’s Barmer during his campaign for the 2019 general election. “We destroyed Pakistan’s arrogance, forced them to go around the globe with a begging bowl,” the Prime Minister says.

He also refers to Pakistan’s threats of a nuclear attack and says: “We have stopped fearing Pakistan’s threats. If they have nuclear weapons, ours are hardly kept for Diwali.”

Earlier in November last year, former Prime Minister Imran Khan had lauded India’s foreign policy, calling it free and independent. He said although the country attained freedom along with Pakistan, their foreign policy remains independent as India stood by its decision to buy oil from Russia despite opposition from the US. Again, in October 2022, Imran Khan praised India’s foreign policy saying New Delhi was able to import oil from Russia at will while Pakistan was a slave to the West as it is unable to take fearless decisions for the welfare of its people.