Awards to PM Narendra Modi are a tight slap for Pakistan

Over the weekend, two countries of the Islamic world — the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain honoured PM Narendra Modi with their highest honours. While UAE's Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan conferred his country's highest civilian award — The Order of Zayed, Bahrain's king honoured the PM with the 'King Hamad Order of the Renaissance' for development.

Accepting Bahrain's award on Saturday, the PM had said, "I feel very honoured & fortunate to be awarded The King Hamad Order of the Renaissance. I am equally honoured by your majesty's friendship for me and for my country."

With this, six countries from the Islamic world have, over the last five years, bestowed the Indian PM with their top honours and cemented his position as a friend of the Middle East.

The first Islamic country was Saudi Arabia in April 2016 which awarded him the 'King Abdulaziz Sash Award', followed by Afghanistan in June 2016 with 'Amir Amanullah Khan Award'. This was followed by Palestine, which conferred the 'Grand Collar of the State of Palestine' in February 2018. Earlier this year in June, it was the Maldives, which conferred 'Rule of Nishan Izzuddeen'.

Top government sources said on Sunday that such widespread recognition from the Muslim world is a "tight slap" for Pakistan, which is making one failed attempt after another to isolate India, particularly among Islamic nations. TS Tirumurti, secretary Economic Relations, MEA, said, "Our engagement has been extremely robust and our relations with the Arab countries are at an all-time high."

With inputs from agencies