Delhi meet-up: Will it be more than just a courtesy call?
BJP officials maintain that the meetup will be more than just a courtesy call, extending over half an hour.
Congress party has reacted to the development quite cautiously.PHOTO: FILE
NEW DELHI:
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s meeting with Narendra Modi on May 27 will be more than a courtesy call, which Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) officials are – surprisingly – not resisting. On Friday, S Akbaruddin, the spokesperson for India’s external affairs ministry, was quite cut and dry about Nawaz’s visit: “It is normal practice that when a senior leader comes to your country as a gracious host you also have short meetings as courtesy and as a gesture to the incoming guest.”
But BJP officials maintain that the meetup will be more than just a courtesy call, extending over half an hour.
The party is also aware that the bilateral talks could touch a raw nerve in its core constituency, and has taken to insisting that Modi’s bilateral talks with Nawaz and others would be more in the spirit of familiarisation meetings than something with any substantive diplomatic agenda.
BJP leader Arun Jaitley tweeted that courtesy calls should not be treated as diplomatic meetings.
And even though the larger ‘Hindu’ elements in the party are not exactly pleased with the invitation to Nawaz for Modi’s oath-taking ceremony, they are restraining from announcing their reservations.
Moreover, more right-wing elements of the Sangh Parivar – a family of Hindu nationalist organisations – have fallen in line after the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) who did not nix the proposal of inviting Nawaz.
Interestingly, the RSS – the militant wing of the BJP responsible for many terrorist attacks – defended the invitation to Pakistan. It likened it to inviting a neighbour, however bad the mutual relations, to a wedding.
There is also an understanding within the party that the new government is likely to face tough challenges on the Kashmir front. The assessment emerging from Modi’s meetings with Indian Home Secretary Anil Biswas and others, like the former director of Intelligence Bureau Ajit Kumar Doval, is that the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan would have a bearing on Kashmir. India’s security apparatus believes infiltration would increase in Kashmir in the coming months.
On the other hand, the Congress party has reacted to the development quite cautiously.
After Nawaz’s attendance was confirmed, the Congress hoped that thorny issues, such as that of Jamaatud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed, would be raised during the meeting.
“They [the BJP] have also periodically been raising the issue of Dawood Ibrahim’s return, who allegedly is being sheltered by the establishment in Pakistan. So, we hope the BJP remains true to the position it has taken over the past 10 years and raises these issues with the prime minister of Pakistan when he comes to India,” said Congress spokesperson and former Union minister Manish Tewari.
Significantly, Hafiz Saeed tweeted, “Meanwhile, instead of appeasing India, Nawaz Sharif should represent [the] nation’s aspiration by reviewing his decision to visit Modi’s oath-taking ceremony.”
Congress’s Shashi Tharoor had a tongue-in-cheek tweet a few days ago:
Meanwhile, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) partner National Conference welcomed Nawaz’s visit. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, whose party was comprehensively trounced in the elections, tweeted, “Very glad to hear Pak PM has accepted invite, shows that he can prevail over forces inimical to good relations with India.”
Published in The Express Tribune, May 25th, 2014.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s meeting with Narendra Modi on May 27 will be more than a courtesy call, which Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) officials are – surprisingly – not resisting. On Friday, S Akbaruddin, the spokesperson for India’s external affairs ministry, was quite cut and dry about Nawaz’s visit: “It is normal practice that when a senior leader comes to your country as a gracious host you also have short meetings as courtesy and as a gesture to the incoming guest.”
But BJP officials maintain that the meetup will be more than just a courtesy call, extending over half an hour.
The party is also aware that the bilateral talks could touch a raw nerve in its core constituency, and has taken to insisting that Modi’s bilateral talks with Nawaz and others would be more in the spirit of familiarisation meetings than something with any substantive diplomatic agenda.
BJP leader Arun Jaitley tweeted that courtesy calls should not be treated as diplomatic meetings.
And even though the larger ‘Hindu’ elements in the party are not exactly pleased with the invitation to Nawaz for Modi’s oath-taking ceremony, they are restraining from announcing their reservations.
Moreover, more right-wing elements of the Sangh Parivar – a family of Hindu nationalist organisations – have fallen in line after the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) who did not nix the proposal of inviting Nawaz.
Interestingly, the RSS – the militant wing of the BJP responsible for many terrorist attacks – defended the invitation to Pakistan. It likened it to inviting a neighbour, however bad the mutual relations, to a wedding.
There is also an understanding within the party that the new government is likely to face tough challenges on the Kashmir front. The assessment emerging from Modi’s meetings with Indian Home Secretary Anil Biswas and others, like the former director of Intelligence Bureau Ajit Kumar Doval, is that the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan would have a bearing on Kashmir. India’s security apparatus believes infiltration would increase in Kashmir in the coming months.
On the other hand, the Congress party has reacted to the development quite cautiously.
After Nawaz’s attendance was confirmed, the Congress hoped that thorny issues, such as that of Jamaatud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed, would be raised during the meeting.
“They [the BJP] have also periodically been raising the issue of Dawood Ibrahim’s return, who allegedly is being sheltered by the establishment in Pakistan. So, we hope the BJP remains true to the position it has taken over the past 10 years and raises these issues with the prime minister of Pakistan when he comes to India,” said Congress spokesperson and former Union minister Manish Tewari.
Significantly, Hafiz Saeed tweeted, “Meanwhile, instead of appeasing India, Nawaz Sharif should represent [the] nation’s aspiration by reviewing his decision to visit Modi’s oath-taking ceremony.”
Congress’s Shashi Tharoor had a tongue-in-cheek tweet a few days ago:
Meanwhile, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) partner National Conference welcomed Nawaz’s visit. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, whose party was comprehensively trounced in the elections, tweeted, “Very glad to hear Pak PM has accepted invite, shows that he can prevail over forces inimical to good relations with India.”
Published in The Express Tribune, May 25th, 2014.