This may not necessarily be good news for prime minister Manmohan Singh, who has been facing scathing attacks from opposition parties and scepticism from within his own for the Indo-Pak joint statement, but here it is anyway.
To coin a cliche, Singh has become king of the Pakistani press. Their newspapers are all praise for his efforts to “bring peace and stability in the region”.
The country’s leading English daily, Dawn, described Singh’s speech in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday as a delicate balancing act. Another English newspaper, Daily Times, called him India’s paradigmatic leader after Jawaharlal Nehru. Both papers spoke highly about Singh’s political stature while defending his Pakistan policy.
A Dawn editorial titled ‘PM Singh explains’ stated: “Mr Singh has been accused by Indian opposition parties of needlessly muddying the waters by allowing a reference to Balochistan in the joint statement. However, he rightly decided to take on his critics and argued that the joint statement reflected his opinion that Pakistan, in the absence of the composite dialogue, should not claim that it cannot take action against trans-national terrorist groups simply because the dialogue is on hold.”
The editorial added: “For now, the Indian prime minister’s explanation has appeared to mollify his critics and following a strong statement of support from his party boss Sonia Gandhi, he can be expected to ride out the storm.
So, have Manmohan’s critics won and forced him to back away from what appeared to be an attempt to improve ties with Pakistan? Not necessarily. Indeed, Mr Singh emphasised that ‘dialogue and engagement is the best way forward’ and spoke appreciatively of the frank details provided by Pakistan in the latest dossier on the Mumbai attacks. Parsing the prime minister’s speech, then, it seems that he is still holding out one hand to Pakistan while trying to fend off his domestic detractors with the other.”
A Daily Times editorial commended Singh, saying he matched his political stature while defending his Pakistan policy as one that had been described by the opposition as capitulation to an enemy who had allowed its territory to be used for terrorist attacks in Mumbai in November 2008. It said Singh has firmly stood by the joint statement he issued at Sharm El-Sheikh with his Pakistani counterpart Yousaf Raza Gilani, including in the statement a reference to Balochistan.
The editorial then states: “Despite platitudes about Dr Singh being a weak prime minister, he has proved once again that he is indeed the paradigmatic leader after Jawaharlal Nehru. India owes its new stature in the world to him after he changed the Nehruvian model of the economy in 1991 as finance minister. If the leaderships of both countries agree with Dr Singh’s views, then he is surely going to change Indo-Pak strategic equations.”
The editorial said the efforts of Singh should be applauded and leaders who are criticising him should lend him support for the larger interest of people of both countries. “The cold warriors in India should take heed from what Dr Singh has said. Indeed, the brave statesmanlike initiatives of the Pakistani and Indian leaders should be applauded,” the Daily Times editorial concluded.
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