Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his maiden speech at the UN General Assembly on Saturday, did well to take in a broad sweep of the world, dwelling on pending crucial reforms of the world body, including its Security Council, to reflect 21st century realities, and emphasise the crucial need to engage in a cooperative framework with all countries to solve international problems.
Mr Modi avoided the trap of responding only to questions raised by Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif on the bilateral issue of Kashmir. When leaders of 193 countries of the UN system meet in September each year, they are meant to reflect on difficulties confronting international life. The General Assembly is not the forum to thrash out bilateral questions. However, in an effort to bait India, the Pakistan PM chose to ignore this basic requirement and focused his attention on the Kashmir issue.
It seemed as though the Pakistan leader was working to a plan, that did not include confabulating with the rest of the world from the world body’s forum. He seemed to be more focused on signalling the separatist leadership in Kashmir, indicating that Islamabad may be preparing to gear up its act in respect of the Valley.
He also seemed to be seeking conciliation with his own Army establishment, which is keeping him under an inordinate degree of political pressure for many months, by marching to their favourite tune of Kashmir. In short, Mr Sharif appeared to be taking his domestic difficulties to the UN.
In that event, an Indian leader is hardly expected to engage in a tit-for-tat on the Kashmir issue, which Pakistan has got into the habit of raising year after year at the UN General Assembly session. But Mr Modi struck the right note when he underlined that he was prepared to engaged in a “serious bilateral dialogue with Pakistan in a peaceful atmosphere, without the shadow of terrorism, to promote our friendship and cooperation”.
The Prime Minister, emphasising his own priorities, also observed that India’s relations with the world began with ties with its neighbours, and that his government would accord the highest priority to friendship and cooperation with all neighbours, Pakistan included. This testifies to the maturity of Indian thinking on world and regional affairs.
New Delhi now needs to flesh out this approach. Keeping India’s long-held approach in view, the PM worried that there was “absence of real peace in the world”, and the future was marked by uncertainty. Referring to the Asia-Pacific region, he spoke about concerns regarding maritime security, an indirect of way of alerting the world to the quality of the rise of China. This too is a question that concerns the wider international community.
