The India visit

Should be the first of many steps required to bring peace in the region

Disproving skeptics in India who had predicted that Nawaz Sharif might not accept Modi’s invitation due to domestic constraints, the Pakistani premier is travelling to New Delhi today. The visit with the exception of the likes of Hafiz Saeed and Siraju Ul Haq, enjoys the support of practically all mainstream parties in the Parliament.

Nawaz Sharif has all along supported improvement of ties with the neighbouring country. With Punjab, the largest province of Pakistan, as his traditional stronghold and leading a right of the centre, pro-business party, Sharif is in a position to press for friendly ties with India without being labelled anti-Pakistan. Like his Pakistani counterpart, Narendera Modi too believes that South Asia cannot get rid of poverty without peace in the region. Unlike the Congress administration which was devoid of the capacity to take bold decisions on account of bad economic performance and corruption scandals, Modi leads a strong government and is known as a go-getter. The decision to invite the prime minister of Pakistan has the support not only of BJP and extremist RSS, but of all political allies and opposition parties.

There are pitfalls in the way. Despite efforts to improve relations made during the last few years, these have been marred by serious border incidents . Most of the decisions taken during talks between the Congress and PPP governments were not implemented. Pakistan’s desire to get dialogue on outstanding issues initiated remained unfulfilled. India complained that no movement had taken place on bringing to law those behind Mumbai attacks and Pakistan had yet not reciprocated by giving MFN status to India. Sharif is naturally keen to kickstart Pak-India dialogue on all outstanding issues. He can thus claim that he has ended the stalemate. Modi, on the other hand, is likely to call for cessation of what he considers covert operations prior to initiation of talks. Sharif can promise that only if he is able to take all stakeholders on board.

Pakistan and India have a historic opportunity to break the gridlock in their relations. The visit by Nawaz Sharif, widely hailed by Indian media and politicians, has conveyed a positive message and can help put the peace process on rails. The relations between the two countries are however extremely fragile. Any bloody clash on the LoC or a major terrorist attack in India can undo whatever investment is being made in creating goodwill. All major powers that include China are keen to see peace in nuclear armed but poverty stricken South Asia. The issue between Pakistan and India cannot be resolved by war or by covert operations. The visit by Sharif should be followed on both sides by initiation of a comprehensive dialogue that begins by resolving easier issues while giving due time to tackling the more complex ones.