Editorial: Diplomatic maturity

Invitation to Pakistan and China for the foreign ministers’ meeting of SCO is a smart diplomatic move.

Hyderabad: Despite the ongoing hostilities, India’s invitation to Pakistan and China for the foreign ministers’ meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is a smart diplomatic move which reflects the country’s maturity and pragmatic approach. India is hosting the meeting to be held in Goa in May. The invite to Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang signals India’s intent to reach out to two neighbours with whom its relations have remained strained in recent years. The trust deficit with these two hostile neighbours should not be allowed to diminish the significance of such multilateral meetings. The onus is now on Islamabad and Beijing to utilise the opportunity to find a way forward. The regional grouping includes China, Russia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. If the meeting could provide even a small window of opportunity for a thaw, India must not be the one to miss it. In fact, the bilateral ties with Pakistan are now at a new low, particularly against the backdrop of Bilawal’s despicable remarks targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally. In a sharp reaction, India’s Ministry of External Affairs termed his comments, made on the sidelines of the United Nations Security Council, as an ‘uncivilised outburst’ and a ‘new low’ even by Pakistani standards. By sending out the invitation for the SCO meeting, India has thrown the ball in Islamabad’s court. Invitations for multilateral meetings are normally accepted.

Whether or not Bilawal attends the meeting will be a major point of interest. Pakistan has to decide whether to send Bilawal or somebody else to represent the country. No Pakistan Foreign Minister has visited India in the past over a decade; Hina Rabbani Khar was the last to do it in 2011. In another sign of its conciliatory approach, India has also invited Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial for the meeting of Chief Justices of SCO nations, scheduled for March. India’s diplomatic overture also assumes significance in light of Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s offer of talks with India, though with several riders. Though Sharif extending an olive branch is significant for its optics, there is nothing on the ground to suggest that Islamabad is willing to give up its long-standing strategy of using terrorism as an instrument of state policy. His offer for the resumption of talks came with the rider of restoration of Article 370 in Jammu & Kashmir, a precondition that is unacceptable to India. The bilateral relationship with China too suffers from a trust deficit. Qin Gang, China’s new Foreign Minister, said recently that ‘both sides are willing to ease the situation and jointly protect peace along their borders.’ China has been reluctant to walk the talk, but that has not deterred India from keeping all lines of communication open.