This week’s WorldView comes to you from Pakistan. S. Jaishankar traveled to Islamabad for the SCO and meetings with the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Pakistan.
Dr. Jaishankar’s visit to Pakistan for one of many firsts:
– First visit by an Indian minister since 2016 – when Home Minister Rajnath Singh attended the SAARC meeting
– First visit by an Indian foreign minister since 2015 – when EAM Sushma Swaraj attended the Heart of Asia conference
– Jaishankar’s first visit since December 2015 when EAM Sushma Swaraj and PM Modi visited
What happened in the SCO?
Now the SCO meeting itself was not at the highest level, but at the level of heads of government of the 10 SCO countries Russia, China, 4 Central Asian countries Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, Iran, Belarus, Pakistan and India.
At the meeting itself, 8 memoranda of understanding were signed, mainly on economic cooperation, as well as the adoption of the budget before the next SCO summit in China in 2025.
More importantly, both India and Pakistan have stayed away from finger-pointing in past encounters.
In stark contrast to former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who traveled to Goa as the foreign minister of the SCO, Mr Sharif did not indirectly mention Kashmir.
And Mr. Jaishankar spoke of India’s concerns about terrorism using only the language of the SCO charter, which identifies terrorism, separatism and extremism as the ills the region is fighting.
Jaishankar also referred to China’s BRI and India’s objections to its passage through disputed PoK – saying territorial sovereignty must be respected.
On the sidelines, Jaishankar met his Pakistani counterpart Ishaq Dar twice – once at dinner and once at lunch, both hosted by Prime Minister Sharif, and are believed to have had “informal talks”. The MEA, however, downplayed the content of the talks.
“In Islamabad, you would see, the only bilateral meeting our foreign minister had was with Mongolia. Also, there were some pleasantries that were exchanged on the sidelines of the meeting, especially during lunch and dinner. That’s it,” said Randhir Jaiswal.
Perhaps the clearest signal of some softening came not from the official but from the unofficial side, as former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the elder brother of Prime Minister Shehbaz and father of Pakistan’s Punjab Prime Minister Maryam Sharif sat down with Indian journalists to talk about his vision for a better state of relations. Here are the highlights:
– He said India and Pakistan should bury the past and look to future cooperation in trade, energy, combating climate change, but refused to address past issues of terrorism for India and Kashmir for Pakistan.
– That he praised Mr Modi’s visit to Lahore, calling it quite a gesture and attacked former Prime Minister Imran Khan for his personal criticism of Modi in 2019, comparisons to Hitler and Mussolini
– That he believes trade, rail and road links should be restored, that Pakistan broke off in 2019, the high commissioners should be reappointed and the Indian and Pakistani cricket teams should resume playing in their respective countries – by start with the Champions Trophy in Pakistan in February.
– Mr Sharif’s announcement was the third in a series – In May he said the Kargil war was a mistake and the MEA welcomed what it called an “objective look” at Pakistan’s actions. In June, he tweeted congratulations to PM Modi for his third term and PM Modi responded warmly.
– Mr. Sharif is not in office, so it is not clear whether he was speaking on behalf of the government, but he is the president.
Time for each new opening:
1. Both elections this year – governments are expected to be stable
2. Conflicts in other parts of the world – lack of appetite for hostilities between India and Pakistan
3. Economic problems of Pakistan
4. Accusations against India by USA, Canada, Qatar and Pakistan – this may be time to look into
5. Turmoil in South Asia – it’s time to revive regional cooperation
Worldview Get:
Jaishankar’s visit to Pakistan, albeit for a purely multilateral purpose, signals a possible opportunity for engagement. To begin with, if India can send a minister to Pakistan for one regional cooperation meeting like SCO, then why not another like SAARC. There is too much bad blood between the two countries for any real optimism about the future, but visits like this can create an atmosphere for re-establishing ties – at this point – even the lack of negativity is a positive step.
Recommended reading:
The Poles Apart: The Military and Democracy in India and Pakistan by Aditya Sondhi
Anger Management: The Troubled Diplomatic Relations Between India and Pakistan by Ajay Bisaria
The India Pakistan Conundrum: Managing a Complex Relationship by Sharat Sabharwal
The People Next Door: The Curious History of India-Pakistan Relations by TCA Raghavan
Hostility by Abdul Basit
An Indian Woman in Islamabad: 1997-2000 by Ruchi Ganasyam
In Pursuit of Peace: India-Pakistan Relations under Six Prime Ministers by Satinder Kumar Lamba
Screenplay and Presentation: Suhasini Haidar
Production: Shibu Narayan and Sabika Syed
Published – October 18, 2024, 10:59 PM IST
