Ending days of suspense, Islamabad on Saturday announced its premier Nawaz Sharif will attend Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi’s oath-taking ceremony in New Delhi on May 26, following which he will hold bilateral talks with his Indian counterpart the day after.
Modi had on Wednesday invited Sharif along with leaders of other SAARC nations for the ceremony. While all others had given their consent for the event, it took some time for Sharif’s nod to come since he had to consult all stakeholders, including hardliners and the Army, in his country before accepting the invitation.
The confirmation also came a day after Sharif’s younger brother Shahbaz took Pakistan Army chief General Raheel Sharif into confidence and apprised him of the importance of the visit to maintain peace and good relations.
There was apprehension that the tricky issue could strain the Sharif dispensation’s relations with the powerful Army, especially given that the two sides are already not on the same page on issues like action against Geo TV and initiating peace talks with Tehreek-e-Taliban.
Accompanied by his Adviser on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, Special Assistant Tariq Fatemi and Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry among others, Sharif will reach New Delhi on Monday to take part in the swearing-in ceremony. Sharif will also call on President Pranab Mukherjee. He will return to Pakistan on May 27 afternoon.
Asked about the expectations from the Sharif-Modi meet, Pakistan Foreign Ministry sources said the two leaders are meeting for the first time and the effort will be made to take forward the relationship beyond symbolism.
While the two countries did not expect any path-breaking development, India is likely to urge Pakistan to grant it Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status besides taking up issues like dismantling terrorist training camps still active in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK), speeding up the sluggish trial of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, and handover of Dawood Ibrahim. Incidentally, Modi will hold bilateral meetings with all the SAARC leaders on Tuesday, including Sri lankan
President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, Bhutan Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay, Nepal Prime Minister Sushil Koirala and Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom. Bangladesh will be represented by Parliament Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury at the swearing-in ceremony as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will be on a visit to Japan on May 26. Amongst top politicians in India, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi will represent the Congress at the ceremony.
The new Prime Minister will have “short duration bilateral meetings” with all the visiting foreign dignitaries with a restricted delegation from each side in attendance, the External Affairs Ministry spokesperson said in New Delhi. During these meets, the leaders are expected to talk about ways to take forward the bilateral ties as also other key common challenges.
On the scheduling of the bilateral talks, sources said the Presidents will be the first, followed by the Prime Ministers and other representatives. And in this sequence, an alphabetical order will be followed, they said.
Most political parties in India welcomed the announcement. While the BJP expressed delight, the Congress asked Modi to raise issues during his talks with Sharif, including cross-border terrorism, slow pace of trial of 26/11 attacks and handing over of Dawood Ibrahim to India. Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and his political rival PDP also hailed Pakistan Premier’s decision.
Seeking to downplay any misgiving over the invitation to SAARC leaders at the swearing-in, BJP leader Arun Jaitley said the event is to showcase strength of India’s democracy and it should not be viewed through the prism of bilateral issues. Jaitley’s remarks came against the backdrop of criticism over inviting Sharif and Rajapaksa for the ceremony. While the Congress cautioned that it was not the right time to hold bilateral talks with Pakistan, political parties in Tamil Nadu, including AIADMK, DMK and MDMK, said invitation to the Sri lankan President had hurt the sentiments of Tamils in the southern State and Sri lanka. MDMK chief Vaiko announced his party will hold black flag demonstration against the Sri lankan President.
Defending Modi’s decision to invite the two leaders, Jaitley said the fact that India’s neighbours will be represented “reaffirms India’s faith in both democracy and greater integration of the region.” He said the general election is a great celebration of Indian democracy, it being the world’s largest democratic election, and for it to be completed peacefully in a fair manner resulting in a democratic change of power is an occasion that does India proud.
Swearing-in ceremony of the Prime Minister-designate and his Council of Ministers on May 26 will be culmination of these celebrations, before the new government gets down to work, Jaitley added.
His colleague and party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said, “This is a delightful piece of news that Pakistan Prime Minister has accepted Narendra Modi’s invitation...This is the beginning of a new relationship. It is good news.” He said Pakistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri lanka, Myanmar are India’s neighbours and “neighbours cannot be changed.”
However, the Congress reacted sarcastically with outgoing Union Minister Manish Tewari reminding that the BJP has all along maintained that terror and talks cannot go together. He hoped that after assuming office, the BJP Government would raise the issue of slow pace of trail of 26/11 attacks -- an issue “which had been troubling them.”Reminding the BJP that it has repeatedly raised the issue of the return of Dawood Ibrahim, Tiwari said, “We hope that the BJP remains true to the position it has taken over the past ten years and raises these issues with the Prime Minister of Pakistan.”