Modi Government reaches out to Pakistan
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has seized upon the opportunity presented in the commencement of the ICC Cricket World Cup, a major sporting event that has public support across the sub-continent, to re-emphasise his South Asia focus and, importantly, resume dialogue with Pakistan. The thaw in India-Pakistan ties, even if it has happened under the South Asia umbrella, has sparked much excitement within the commentariat and power corridors alike. Notably, efforts in this regard have been taking place quietly for months now.
After the horrific Peshawar school massacre in December 2014, Mr Modi had called Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to express his condolences. National Security Advisor Ajit Doval had also delivered a supportive message at the Pakistani mission in New Delhi and, reportedly, had a separate meeting with the High Commissioner, Mr Abdul Basit, later in the month. On Republic Day, both President and Prime Minister of Pakistan had send their greetings to their Indian counterparts.
Then, this past Thursday, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar also met with the Pakistani envoy. Prior to that, earlier in the week, India's Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas had travelled to Islamabad for a multilateral meeting on the TAPI (Turkmenistan-Pakistan-India) gas pipeline project. That meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Sharif and was the first high-level engagement between India and Pakistan, since the foreign secretary-level talks fiasco in August last year.
At that time, High Commissioner Basit had ignored South Block's disapproving signals and met with Kashmiri separatist leaders in New Delhi, in the run-up to Foreign Secretaries meet. The Modi Government responded by unilaterally calling off the talks. This naturally dampened the positive mood that hadbeen generated during the Prime Ministers New Delhi meeting in May 2014 for the inauguration ceremony.
But in August, it was necessary for the Modi Government to put its foot down and send out a strong message that the rules of the game had changed and it was serious about enforcing them. Six months later, it seems that the Modi Government is optimistic about having the Pakistani administration on board and, therefore, has re-initiated the dialogue process.
Whether its assessment is correct, only time will tell — there have been no major changes within the Pakistani establishment and old challenges (from complicated civil-military relations to support for extremist elements) remain. For now, the Indian side has made clear that it’s serious about negotiating with Pakistan (as long as the latter doesn't play truant). Of course, Modi critics, who panned the Prime Minister of high-handedness last year have now slammed him for going soft. This is silly.
Neither did Mr Modi say that that there’d be no talks with Pakistan nor is a communication freeze a realistic option for two neighbours. It was always a given that talks would resume; the only question was when and under what circumstances.