Modi will be a tough customer: What Pakistani media has written on Indo-Pak relations

The News Minute| May 24, 2014| 3.31 pm IST In what could be termed as a foreign policy coup for the Narendra Modi government, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has ended two days of speculation on whether he will go to New Delhi or not, his office confirming that he attend the swearing-in-ceremony.The Pak PM will attend Narendra Modi’s swearing-in-ceremony and there will be bilateral talks between the countries on May 27, the very next day. Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif Saturday confirmed he will attend the oath-taking ceremony of Indian prime minister-designate Narendra Modi to be held Monday evening, an event to be attended by leaders of six other South Asian nations as well as Mauritius, that has a large ethnic Indian population.Tariq Aziz Pak PM’s Advisor told NDTV that he meeting will mark the beginning of new relations. “To talk to someone, first we need to shake hands with them. The meeting will project understanding and promise that there will be talks to resolve issues. We cannot live in the past; we have to think of the future.”Media in Pakistan too has prominently covered events in the last two days as Pak PM held consultations to arrive at a decision regarding Modi’s invite.Inayatullah, ex-federal secretary and ambassador says, “Mr. Modi will certainly take a hard line on incidents on the Line of Control and will seek to fully absorb the disputed Jammu and Kashmir State in India. Pakistan will have to be tough with elements prone to undertake violent activities across the border.”Dr Haider Shah, a writer and founding member of the Rationalist Society of Pakistan writes in the ‘Nation’ that the fragile peace can be disrupted anytime by non-state elements. “Both Modi and Sharif have reciprocated messages of goodwill but the friendly apple cart. If the Pakistani security establishment wants to embarrass the prime minister again, all that is needed is to fire a shot at the Line of Control and the nationalist media will quickly toe the line,” Shah writes.Modi will be a tougher customer compared to Manmohan Singh writes IA Rahman, a Pakistani peace and human-rights advocate in the Dawn newspaper. “There is little doubt that if the new governments of India and Pakistan earnestly develop a framework for economic cooperation, they will lay the foundations of a bulwark against the monster of religious bigotry that is threatening the whole subcontinent,” writes Rahman.He adds that Pakistan must be ready to offer India satisfaction on its complaints regarding cross-border terrorism, for Modi will be a tougher customer than Manmohan Singh.Nawaz Sharif will arrive in India with a seven member delegation that will be part of the bilateral talks. The challenge on both Prime Ministers will be to break new ground and go beyond the rhetoric.Narendra Modi had invited the leaders of all the member states of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) for the swearing-in ceremony.Apart from Sharif, the dignitaries who will attend include Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, Maldives President Abdulla Yameen, Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Bhutan Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay, Nepal Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, and Bangladesh Parliament Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury. Mauritius Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam is also attending the ceremony.It is the first time in India's history that leaders from neighbouring countries have been invited to the swearing-in ceremony of an Indian prime minister. Modi, who will be sworn in at the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan Monday evening, will hold brief bilateral talks with each leader the following day.