India’s incoming prime minister Narendra Modi’s outreach to Pakistan and immediate nighbours in South Asia has elicited praise from the US and kindled expectations in the region that the new regime in Delhi, despite its tough posture on terror, will be bold in re-engaging Islamabad and pursuing the dream of regional integration.
In an unprecedented step, Modi has shown a statesman-like gesture by inviting the heads of state/government of the seven countries of the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to attend his swearing-in ceremony in New Delhi May 26.
What has attracted global attention is Modi’s invite to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif amid the continuing frostiness and stagnating ties between the two prickly neighbours. Modi’s surprise gesture contrasts sharply with his campaign rhetoric during which he criticised the Manmohan Singh government for appeasing Pakistan at a time when Indian soldiers were killed by Pakistani troops on the Indian side of the Line of Control in Kashmir last year.
The invitation to Mr Sharif has elicited praise from the US, which promptly welcomed more engagement between India and Pakistan.
“We welcome increased engagement between India and Pakistan, and their leaders and … India’s engagement with its neighbours, leading up to the inauguration,” State Department spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki Psaki told reporters in Washington. “We believe increased engagement between India and Pakistan is a positive step, so we’ll see what happens,” she added.
Pakistan’s foreign office has acknowledged that the invitation to Mr Sharif to visit India has been received, but did not confirm or deny whether the Pakistani leader would take the gamble to visit India.
Ever since being elected as Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Sharif has struck a positive tone about improving relations with India, specially economic ties, but the all-powerful Pakistan’s military which sets the agenda for Islamabad’s relations with New Delhi has not been supportive.
Stephen P. Cohen, a well-known Pakistan expert and author of The Idea of Pakistan, suggested Mr Sharif would probably reciprocate Mr. Modi’s gesture, but only if he can win the support of Pakistan’s powerful military. “I think we might see a dialogue between Modi and Sharif,” Mr. Cohen told the New York Times. “But Sharif has an army problem, and Modi has a right-wing ideological problem.”
This is the first time all SAARC leaders have been invited to attend the swearing-in of an Indian prime minister.
Modi will be sworn in as the 15th prime minister of India by President Pranab Mukherjee at the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the red sandstone presidential palace, in the heart of the Indian capital, which is expected to be attended by over 3000 guests.
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