In denial mode

The argument that India does not have a Pakistan-centric policy and is not working to isolate Islamabad is unconvincing and should not be taken at face value now or ever. On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered a more multi-tiered, nuanced approach to explain his country’s foreign policy objectives, saying it was issue-based and not built around Pakistan or one state or the other. For close to a decade New Delhi has been preoccupied with external intervention in South Asia but has done precious little to promote regional peace and economic integration, as had been the expectation following its rise in the shadow of China’s more significant growth. In all this while Modi’s goal of diplomatically isolating Pakistan has not exactly succeeded. Instead Islamabad was able to step up its game and fruitfully engage with Beijing, Moscow and Tehran. By escalating border hostilities with Pakistan, India appears to have made a major faux pax. The narrative has shifted in Islamabad’s favour, reinforcing the notion that relations between the two rivals are in a permanent state of deadlock. Pakistan came out as an honest backer of the peace process, India not half as much. As long as there is no intervention from a major power, things will remain the same. It does not help that India does not accept third-party mediation in bilateral ties.

Yet, in the same breath, Modi opened a window on the possibility of cooperation with Pakistan and others on the issue of terrorism, poverty and disease — observing that the world was uniting in particular against the terror scourge. Despite that New Delhi is unwilling to confront the reality of oppression in Kashmir and the subjugation of people in Kashmir and Gujarat. Time and again Pakistan has condemned the brutal use of force by Indian troops against those seeking the right to self-determination. Modi would be well advised to reboot India’s ‘neighbourhood first’ policy. 

Published in The Express Tribune, January 23^rd, 2018.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.