Diplomacy

Afghanistan will not allow proxy war, non-state actors: Afghan President

- by Manish Chand

No eye contact between the leaders of India and Pakistan at a summit that was supposed to toast regional solidarity and take small but significant steps towards regional integration. In the end, it was Afghanistan’s new president Ashraf Ghani to speak some home truths. Making his debut at the SAARC summit, Mr Ghani made it clear that he would not allow his country to become a battleground of a proxy war as he warned against the dangers posed by non-state actors trying to usurp the agenda –- a none-too-veiled reference to Pakistan’s alleged sponsorship of terror outfits.
He did not mention Pakistan by name, but everybody knew who he was pointing finger at when he underlined that the state sponsorship of non-state actors could have damaging effects. “It should be clear that such measures have blowback effects, destabilising the state system,” Mr Ghani said. He also made it clear that his country, which is on the cusp of a transformational journey as foreign combat troops withdraw from Afghanistan this year, will not provide sanctuaries for terror groups.
In so far as feel-good rhetoric goes, these platitudes are fine, but it’s time for the SAARC to move beyond mere declaration and deliver security and prosperity to its millions of the deprived and the downtrodden across the region.

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Converting SAARC sceptics: Modi says it’s time to act and make dreams flower

- by Manish Chand

It’s time to make a new beginning in South Asia and convert cynicism and skepticism shadowing the SAARC grouping into a ripe field of opportunity through deeper integration and freer movement of goods, people and dreams. This was the overarching message of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s debut speech at the SAARC summit in the Nepali capital as he unveiled new unilateral initiatives in areas of education, business, public health and IT, and offered to launch a SAARC satellite by 2016.
The prime minister spelt out the five pillars that underpin India’s vision for the region, which includes trade, investment, assistance, cooperation in every area, contacts between people – and, all through seamless connectivity.
In his speech, Mr Modi, who is attending a SAARC summit for the first time, provided a trenchant prognosis of what ails the 8-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, and exhorted the SAARC leader to convert cynicism into a new narrative of hope and opportunity to bind the region together in an intimate mesh of trading, rail, road and air links.

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Modi mantra in Nepal: Healing, connecting and linking Varanasi & Kathmandu

- by Manish Chand

The Modi mantra rings loud and clear in Nepal. Talk to anyone in the buzzing bazaars of Kathmandu, the very word Modi evokes smile and respect. He has become synonymous with development and hope for people in Nepal who are yearning for better governance and infrastructure. Trying to live up to soaring expectations in the Himalayan state, Prime Minister Narendra Modi formalised $1 billion soft loan for development projects, gifted a trauma centre to Nepal and unveiled sister-city arrangements between key Hindu and Buddhist pilgrimage hubs in India and Nepal.
“If Nepal is not happy, India cannot smile. Nepal’s happiness gives us joy,” Mr Modi said in a brief speech at the inauguration of National Trauma Centre in Kathmandu, , his first engagement after touching down in Nepal on November 25 afternoon.
This time round, Mr Modi underscored that if there is a strong “engine of trust and confidence” between India and Nepal, anything is possible, reflecting a sense of optimism about the future trajectory of bilateral relations that was encapsulated in Mr Modi’s wide-ranging talks with his Nepali counterpart Sushil Koirala. Pushing the ties on fast-track, the two sides signed a dozen pacts, that included an agreement for India providing $1 billion Line of Credit for a host of infrastructure projects in the Himalayan state that is navigating its transition to democracy, and a landmark Motor Vehicle Agreement that will boost people-to-people contacts, business and tourism between the two countries.

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Speculation swirl on likely meeting between India, Pakistan PMs

- by India Writes Network

Amid speculation about a possible meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in Kathmandu, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has said that Islamabad desires peace with New Delhi and underlined that the two neighbours can resolve their disputes through dialogue and negotiations.

“Pakistan desires peace with India but its desire should not be taken as its weakness,” Asif said in Islamabad. Mr Asif stressed that soon after assuming office, Mr Sharif had expressed his desire for peace with India and has repeated his intention to build bridges with India many a time in the last few months. “This desire has been misconceived by the other side,” he said.
n Kathmandu, speculation continued to swirl about a meeting between Mr Modi and Mr Sharif on the sidelines of the SAARC summit, with both sides maintaining studied ambivalence on the issue. Both Mr Modi and Mr Sharif arrived in Kathmandu November 25 for the 18th SAARC summit, but there is no indication yet whether they will meet to defrost tensions and map the way forward for the troubled India-Pakistan relations that have plunged to a new look following unrelenting firing by border troops and Pakistan’s determined diplomatic offensive to internationalise the Kashmir issue.

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Raising the bar for SAARC: Building Bridges, Linking Dreams

- by Manish Chand

Intertwined Destinies, Interlinked Dreams – expressions like these may appear ornate clichés for sceptics, but in reality it would be an understatement to underscore the enormous stakes each country has in fructifying immense potential of the region. India, the largest economy and the most populous country in the region, is an idealist as well as a realist in its ongoing efforts to revitalise the SAARC as the preeminent forum of regional cooperation and integration. For the India Story can’t be delinked from the state of South Asia, its choices and its conflicts and its surging hopes and aspirations.
In an imaginative initiative, Prime Minister Modi has called for jointly developing a SAARC satellite that could become a powerful symbol of regional solidarity and a realistic vehicle of providing the much-needed data for averting natural disasters and meteorological data to optimise agriculture potential of individual economies and the region. Initiatives like these show that the SAARC grouping, if it wants to, is ready to move into a different orbit, literally as well as metaphorically.
It’s time to raise the sights, dream big and prove that even the sky is not the limit for regional integration.

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It’s time for South Asia: Pitching SAARC into higher orbit

- by Manish Chand

It’s a gloriously sunny day, the kind of weather that should stimulate imagination and inspire some out-of-box thinking in leaders of South Asian countries, who will gather in the Nepali capital to invigorate a 29-year old regional grouping that is still itching to take off.
The summitry atmospherics can be felt everywhere in Kathmandu, with colorful banners proclaiming the tag line of the 18th SAARC summit: “Deeper Integration for Peace, Progress and Prosperity.” The theme song encapsulates in a miniature the abiding mastertheme of the November 28-29 summit, and the driving impulse of the SAARC process itself. And rightly so.
In a way, All eyes will be on Mr Modi’s SAARC debut and his vision for raising the bar for the SAARC dream. Home to vibrant and emerging democracies, growing economies, and home to 1.7 billion people and major religions of the world, South Asia has all the makings of a regional dynamo itching for its place under the global sun. It’s time for the leaders of the region to put a stop to endless visions and revisions and take firm and decisive steps to pitch the SAARC into a higher trajectory.

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