PM Modi called up his counterpart Nawaz Sharif informing him India's foreign secretary will visit SAARC nations, including Pakistan
A day after Pakistan high commissioner to India Abdul Basit called on newly appointed foreign secretary S Jaishankar, prime minister Narendra Modi on Friday revived prospects of resumption of talks between the two countries, when he spoke to his counterpart Nawaz Sharif on phone. Six months after cancelling the Indian foreign secretary's visit to Pakistan in August in protest at its high commissioner inviting Kashmiri separatist leaders for talks before the visit, prime minister also informed Sharif that new foreign secretary will soon visit Pakistan, which will be the first high-level contact in months. "After greetings and pleasantries, prime minister Modi informed Sharif that India's new foreign secretary will soon visit all SAARC countries and would also like to visit Pakistan," the PMO said.
Why Modi rang up Sharif?
Prime minister called up Sharif to wish him very best for ICC Cricket World Cup, starting today. Modi also called up the heads of SAARC nations participating in the World Cup. "Spoke to president @ashrafghani, PM Sheikh Hasina, PM Nawaz Sharif and president Sirisena. Conveyed my best wishes for the Cricket World Cup," he tweeted. He further said cricket connects people in our region and promotes goodwill. "Hope players from SAARC region play with passion and bring laurels to the region. Would be sending our new foreign secretary on a SAARC yatra soon to further strengthen our ties," said Modi.
The decision to revive the formal talks by sending the foreign secretary to Islamabad surprised the foreign affairs experts as it comes in the wake of a number of ceasefire violations by Pakistan and a score of incidents of cross-border firing in the past two months.
Was Modi's call to Pak linked to recent visit of Obama?
Interestingly, the Modi's gesture coincided with the US president also calling Sharif on Thursday night. Obama had telephoned Sharif before going to India and had promised to take him into confidence at the conclusion of the visit. Analysts in Pakistan say that it was expected that after the visit of President Obama some movement on Indo-Pak ties would be made.
Does it indicate that frosty realtions with Pakistan is over?
It is early to say that India-Pakistan relationship in near future will return to the bonhomie, which existed between 2004 and 2006. Then both sides were almost ready to settle the issue of Jammu and Kashmir, as per aides of prime minister Manmohan Sigh and then Pakistan dictator Parvez Musharraf. . It seems that Pakistan envoy who met Jaishankar on Thursday, and earlier its former NSA Maj Gen (rtd) Mehmood Ali Durrani have dropped some message and assurance on attending to India's concerns of terrorism. India's Deputy NSA Arvid Gupta categorically stated that "India is not a reluctant engager any more" and is engaging more proactively across the geo-political spectrum. The process has just begun and will deepen quite significantly over the years. He also said India's foreign policy has witnessed an increased emphasis on sub-regional cooperation.
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