Narendra Modi's stop
over at Pakistan on his return journey from Kabul to Delhi in order to wish
Nawaz Sharif on his birthday and bless his granddaughter on the eve of her
marriage in fact surprised everyone including the media in both India and
Pakistan.
This stopover diplomacy
was viewed in Pakistan as a pleasant surprise and everyone in Pakistan except
the hardliners like Hafiz Saeed welcomed it. In India, most of the media
channels and experts on security and foreign policy too welcomed the move.
However Congress, AAP, JDU and Shiv Sena opposed the move.
Shiv Sena is known for its anti-Pakistan stand and hence it's opposition
was on expected lines. Even JDU's criticism was expected as for last
two years the party has criticized whatever Narendra Modi has
done. Similarly Congress and AAP are competing with each
other to slam any step taken by Prime Minister Modi and
thus their opposition lacks credibility.
Some experts say Narendra Modi's Pakistan policy lacks
consistency. But is that the case really? Those who follow Narendra Modi's
foreign policy very deeply know very well that it's Modi's trademark style of
diplomacy, where the opponent never knows what's coming next.
In diplomacy, if the opponent knows your line of
action, then you lose the advantage. When Narendra Modi invited all SAARC heads
of states including Pakistan, everyone was surprised. The cancellation of
foreign level talks between India and
Pakistan over Pakistan envoy Sartaj Aziz meeting with Hurriyat leaders
also surprised everyone.
Since then the Ufa meeting and the joint statement,
cancellation of NSA level talks, surprise two minute discussion with
Nawaz Sharif, the NSA level meeting at Bangkok etc were definitely
surprising moves as the experts too remained confused as to what was
happening and what will happen next.
The hallmark of Modi's policy with Pakistan is that he has
taken bold and innovative out-of-the-box steps. Almost seven-decades old
Indo-Pak problems can't be sorted out through conventional diplomacy and
require innovative thinking.
Some important aspects of Modi's surprise visit are as follows:
1) Narendra Modi
indirectly attacked Pakistan for cross boarder terrorism while speaking at
Afghanistan's new Parliament. Then he decided to make a stopover at
Lahore. In this way he proved that he is a decisive and daring statesman who
has full control over proceedings. The MEA too was unknown about his surprise
visit till the last moment, which was proved when Sushama Swaraj
hurriedly called the BJP spokesperson for a briefing. Pakistan got
the message that Modi is a strong Prime Minister of India and only he
can improve Indo-Pak relations, if Pakistan reciprocates. Pakistan must be
convinced by now that it's Modi who calls the shots. He dictates his
terms on when to invite, when to cancel or when to resume dialogue.
Hence Pakistan needs to reciprocate and has to honour Modi's terms.
So in a nutshell his Pakistan policy is very consistent in giving
a proper message to his counterpart.
2) Modi has invented a new method of
diplomacy in creating friendship with the heads of states at
a personal level. Be it the Japanese PM, Chinese premier,
US President or the PM of UK , Modi has created a bond
of friendship at the personal level with all. Relations between two
countries always improve when head of states of both countries are friends at
a personal level. However Modi also proved that despite personal level
friendship, he can bargain very hard when it comes to national
interest. His bargaining hard with the United Sates at the WTO
and CoP climate change at Paris bears testimony to this fact. Modi
has offered friendship to Nawaz Sharif which can be a great
concession for him as he is already facing problems with Pakistan's internal
polity. After being cornered globally on the terror issue, Pakistan
desperately wants good relations with India. Even Pakistan military
this time appears to be on board particularly in the aftermath of
Pakistan's Military chief getting a cold shoulder by
the United States during his last visit.
3) Narendra Modi
is already a global leader due to his persona and personal relations with
powerful heads of states. In Kabul he has openly declared that India will keep providing assistance
to Afghanistan in all matters including its security and defense. Pakistan who
does not enjoy the best of relations with Afghanistan now, is very
critical of any Indian involvement in Afghanistan. Narendra Modi visited
Afghanistan, inaugurated its new Parliament built by India and addressed the
Parliamentarians promising them of all help and yet decided to
visit Pakistan. The message is clear. India will actively
remain present in Afghanistan henceforth, but at the same time
wants friendship with Pakistan. This is a statesman like approach.
4) Most opposition
parties have asked as to what India gets from this visit,
as on the contrary Pakistan has benefited more as it's global
image has improved following Modi's visit. But the point is, India has always remained an
elder brother to Pakistan and all its neighboring countries in the
subcontinent barring China. While the elder brother is always
expected to give concessions to the younger brother, the
elder brother also expects the younger brother to reciprocate well
and not to irritate him. So, Pakistan should refrain
from meeting Hurriyat leaders to irritate India.
So to conclude, I can safely say that Narendra
Modi's Pakistan policy is on the right track and is certainly
neither whimsical nor inconsistent. This stealth diplomacy is a new
phenomenon of Narendra Modi. Pakistan must realize that if
there's anyone who can really solve Indo-Pak problems, it's none
other than the decisive present Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra
Modi.
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