The unfolding of ties with Pakistan in the Modi period will be watched with interest. So far, the conduct of bilateral relations with our western neighbour has baffled successive Indian governments since Indira Gandhi which have tried to pitch it at different registers in the hope of getting the maximum resonance, but to little avail. (On the Pakistani side, their remit has been easier to execute as policy has throughout been uni-dimensional, centering on the application of pressure on New Delhi, the intensity depending on overall circumstances.)
Indian leaders have gone from seeking across-the-board engagement — including foregrounding people-to-people contact — to shutting doors on conversations after major terrorist strikes.
When Prime Minister Vajpayee took office as Prime Minister many assumed it would be easier for him to produce results as he represented a Hindu party, unlike the Congress which was often accused, especially by the BJP, of not being “strong” on Pakistan, whatever that means. But the Vajpayee era did not end up looking different from that of his predecessors, or his Congress successor’s.
For his part, Mr Modi has begun on a dynamic (it is too early to call it positive) note, engaging in “mother diplomacy” with his Pakistan counterpart, Mr Nawaz Sharif, and an exchange of letters suggesting willingness to commence on a positive pitch. But, as his defence minister Arun Jaitley found out on Sunday on his first visit to Kashmir as minister, the Pakistani side goes on as before with ceasefire violations on the LoC, Mr Modi’s diplomatic gestures notwithstanding.
Just two days prior, Pakistani border patrols opened up and the Indian forces responded in kind. This drew Mr Jaitley into what seems an indiscretion, although an inadvertent one, given the nature of the Pakistani provocation. He commented at his Srinagar press conference that violations on the LoC and the peace process cannot happen side by side. This is pretty much the standard Indian response, but the defence minister’s observation came as the external affairs minister — who should be the one to speak on bilateral relations with other countries — was in Bhutan.
Mr Modi and Mr Sharif agreed when they talked in New Delhi recently that their foreign secretaries would meet shortly to discuss ways to move forward. It is unlikely ceasefire violations will disrupt the process that is being envisaged when the Pakistan’s Lashkar-e-Tayyaba militants’ attack on the Indian consulate in Herat in Afghanistan — only hours before Mr Modi’s swearing-in as PM late last month — did not stop the Indian leader from being diplomatically energetic with Islamabad. The question remains: what does it mean to act “strong” with Pakistan?
