News Desk |
In the recent Indian general election, Hindu nationalist party, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was able to win 352 seats; this means that PM Modi shall continue to lead the country for the next five years. Prior to elections, some surveys and reports claimed that the Indian PM’s party might not win the election but Modi’s anti-Pakistan narrative just days before the polling day helped him win a dominant victory.
According to details, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has reportedly stated that PM Khan had sent a letter to Premier Modi congratulating him on assumption of office and Foreign Secretary Sohail Mahmood had delivered the same in New Delhi. “Besides Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, has also sent a letter addressed to Indian External Affairs Minister, S. Jaishankar. This is in line with the established diplomatic norms and inter-state practice. The Foreign Secretary delivered these letters in New Delhi earlier this week,” it was added.
PM Modi did not invite PM Khan in his oath taking ceremony which clearly indicated his domestic anti-Pakistan position. At the moment, PM Khan is making all efforts to resume talks with India.
This is not for the first time that the Pakistani prime minister has written a letter to his Indian counterpart and urged him to work for the betterment of the country. PM Khan already wrote two letters and encouraged Indian PM to come forward and jointly work for the people of this region. But after sacrilegious campaigns against Pakistan, PM Khan decided not to approach the Indian government until its general elections.
In an un-presented move, the elections in India remained overtly dominated by the national security narrative. A Pakistan centric approach by Modi and his attempts to appease Hindu nationalists at home helped him win the elections and defeat the comparatively secular, Indian National Congress.
Read more: Will Modi take U-turn for peace with Pakistan?
Dr. Moeed Pirzada, in his talk-show Hard Talk Pakistan on 92 News, maintained that India was not willing engage with Pakistan because of its strategic interests. “I have been arguing for the last 8 to 10 years that the Indian establishment did not want to get engaged with authorities in Pakistan due to their complex strategic interests in the region.
But, at the same time, India has been able to convince the world by using some optics that she was interested to have a dialogue with Pakistan but the latter is allegedly sponsoring terrorism in India which is not in line with the international protocols,” he added.
Mr. Shamshad Ahmad Khan agreed with Dr. Pirzada and added that the Indian is following the policy since after 9/11. “It is not in the interest of India to engage with Pakistan due to its several internal and regional complexities,” he said.
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Political observers in Pakistan believe that since PM Modi sold out the anti-Pakistan narrative in his election campaign, therefore he won’t be able to engage with Pakistan any time soon. PM Modi did not invite PM Khan in his oath taking ceremony which clearly indicated his domestic anti-Pakistan position. At the moment, PM Khan is making all efforts to resume talks with India. However, it looks premature to many analysts to conclude if the Modi-led India will offer a positive response to Islamabad.