New Delhi: Soon after taking over as PM for second term, Narendra Modi will be facing his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan in the two-day Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit on June 14-15 at Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan.
On the diplomatic front, he faces a cliff-hanger to balance India’s interests with US, Iran and Russia on the core economic and defence issues. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj told her Iranian counterpart Javed Zrif only two days ago that Modi will take a decision on the purchase of the Iranian oils after the election results, according to Pakistani newspapers.
Experts in both countries are not so confident if there would be any formal bilateral engagement on the sidelines of the summit stalled since January 2013, but they agree that exchange of smiles and pleasantries may break ice and lower tension in the region.
Former diplomat Rajiv Dogra rules out any change on the foreign policy front. But he felt that the meeting of Sushma Swaraj with her Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi at the SCO ministerial meeting early this week has indicated a new start in the relations.
“There are possibilities and indications that both countries want to give peace another chance and friendship another try,” he said. He, however, identified tensions between Iran and the U.S., followed by dealing with China as main challenge for the new Modi government.
Another former ambassador Arun Kumar Singh is also hopeful that Modi will restart engagements with Pakistan. But he said it depends on the behavior and reciprocity of Islamabad. “They (Pakistan) should now realise that India is a rising power and the capability of Modi government. It is better to talk rather to act foolishly at the border,” he said.
It is believed that Pakistan has informally conveyed to India through China and Russia that the opportunity presented by the presence of the leaders at the SCO summit could be utilised for a bilateral meeting. Meanwhile, Pakistan testing its 1,500 km ballistic missile on the day or counting of votes has not gone unnoticed in India. Experts in India believe that it was a signal to the new Indian government.
The test by Pakistan comes a day after the Indian Air Force (IAF) successfully test fired the air-launched version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from its frontline Su- 30 MKI fighter aircraft. The IAF is the first air force in the world to have successfully fired an air-launched 2.8 Mach surface attack missile of this category, which has a range of over 300 km.
