New Delhi: A possible move by the victorious Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) political party to invite Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with other Saarc leaders to the swearing-in ceremony of former cricketer Imran Khan as PM of Pakistan may put New Delhi on the horns of a dilemma on whether to accept any such invite.
A PTI spokesperson Fawad Chaudhry said that Bollywood star Aamir Khan and cricketers Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar have already been invited by the party for the event.
There are some who feel that if Modi accepts any invite, it could turn out to be a repeat of what happened earlier when he visited Lahore on December 25, 2015, on the invitation of then PM Nawaz Sharif.
That visit was followed almost immediately by the Pathankot terror attack in early 2016 and later the Uri terror attack the same year which were both widely seen as the handiwork of the Pakistan Army and the ISI. Also, with the countdown having virtually begun for the Indian general elections in 2019 that are just about eight months away, it could be a political risk for the Government if Modi were to go at this stage.
On the other hand, an invite to PM Modi to attend could be seen as a possible fresh start to the peace process and a natural consequence of the offer of a dialogue by Mr Khan.
