Neighbours in, Pakistan out
On the political front, the India-Pakistan dynamics continues to be an endless tragicomedy as, after a ministerial powwow and prime ministerial telephonic talk, Prime Minister Narendra Modi conspicuously kept Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan out of the list of “neighbourhood first” invitees to his oathtaking on May 30. The message from New Delhi to Islamabad at the start of Modi 2.0 was loud and clear: rein in your terrorists or risk further isolation.
After having offered his formal congratulations on his massive electoral victory, PM Imran Khan made a telephone call to PM Modi on the Sunday following the results. Thanking Khan for his call and greetings, Modi recalled his government’s initiatives in line with the ‘neighbourhood first’ policy. He referred to his earlier suggestion to the Pakistan Prime Minister to fight poverty jointly. Modi stressed that creating trust and an environment free of violence and terrorism were essential for fostering cooperation for peace, progress and prosperity in our region.
Only days earlier, the Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers, meeting for the first time since their near-war situation three months ago, appeared to talk business, even if informally - or was it a mere At the Indian foreign office, when journalists brought to the notice of the spokesman of photographs from Bishkek that showed Swaraj and Qureshi sitting on the same sofa and seemingly chatting up amiably, the spokesman said: “Looks like this (the photo) if I zoom out.” He then went on to share another photo with journalists which showed a third person in the frame, the Kyrgyz Foreign Minister and host of the SCO meeting, to discount the assumption of a one on one meeting between the Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers.
Kumar than reiterated: “I won’t repeat myself again and again. For the last time no meeting, only exchange of pleasantries. Now it is up to you (to interpret things)”.
Although these exchanges and “pleasantries” were seen by many as a thaw in bilateral ties, India snubbed Pakistan when for the swearing-in ceremony leaders of BIMSTEC member states, the chair of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the Mauritius Prime Minister were invited. The Bay of Bengal Initiative for MultiSectoral Technical and Economic (BIMSTEC) comprises seven member countries, five from South Asia - including Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka - and two from Southeast Asia, Myanmar and Thailand.
Pakistan tried to downplay India’s decision not to invite Imran Khan - as he had done to his predecessor Nawaz Sharif in 2014 - saying the Indian Prime Minister’s “internal politics” does not permit him to extend an invitation to his Pakistani counterpart.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Qureshi said a meeting for the sake of dialogue to find a solution to the Kashmir issue, as well as Siachen and Sir Creek disputes, would have been a significant measure instead of attending the oath-taking ceremony.
India’s ties with Pakistan have been at a particularly low ebb since the Pulwama suicide bombing in February, claimed by the Pakistan-based Jaish -e - Mohammed, in which 40 Indian paramilitary troops were killed. The two countries for some time seemed to be teetering on the brink of war. Now with Modi returning to power, his hostile election rhetoric could well become soon a thing of the past and the two antagonists may well start talking again! in the unpredictable neighbourhood drama of India and Pakistan, anything is possible.