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Diplomats hail move but with caution

Ambassador Arun Kumar called it a well-planned adventure, launched by intermediaries and a well-thought-out act.

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Diplomatic community here largely remained cautious and instead of commenting preferred to wait and watch, when asked to react to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's surprising stopover in Lahore and unscheduled talks with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif. But many agreed that Modi's gesture has once again highlighted that only a hardline BJP government in Delhi is best placed to make peace with Pakistan, after the previous UPA government's failure to break ice and allow the then PM Manmohan Singh to visit Islamabad during his 10-year tenure.

Ambassador Arun Kumar called it a well-planned adventure, launched by intermediaries and a well-thought-out act. He said though it was a surprise, diplomacy doesn't happen just by chance, believing that a meticulous planning must have gone into the visit. "He (Modi) is a man, who believes in action and optics," he said. Former foreign secretary and architect of composite dialogue process in 1997, Salman Haider, called it a symbolic gesture, but a good one. "Prime Minister Modi understands the importance of repairing ties with Pakistan. Like Vajpayee, he understands the importance of making peace," he said.

Haider cautioned that so far, Modi's Pakistan policy has remained inconsistent. He hoped the PM's latest gesture will generate the much-needed goodwill.

Sumitra Kumar, senior research fellow at the premier strategic think-tank – Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis (IDSA) -- however, is apprehensive about Nawaz Sharif's manoeuvrability with regard to terror elements given that the Punjab provincial government has over the last few years been allocating considerable funds in its annual budget for the Jamaat ud Dawa. "Even faced with the improbability of making much headway on terrorism and Kashmir in the resumed dialogue, it is still important for India to engage with Pakistan. If India hopes to be taken seriously by the international community it should be seen to be managing its relationships with the neighbours earnestly," Kumar said. Also, continuing the dialogue might tend to weaken the anti-India elements in Pakistan, he said. Besides, the experience of the last 18 months during which the dialogue was interrupted twice has brought both governments to the view that if any forward movement has to be made in improving relations they can only resort to a dialogue and nothing else," said Kumar, an expert on Pakistan and military affairs.

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