Why PM Modi Should Attend the SCO Summit in Pakistan

Only after he smokes the peace pipe in the sub-continent would he have the credentials to broker peace in Europe.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has received an invite to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit that is taking place on 15-16 October in Islamabad, Pakistan.

(Photo: PTI)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has received an invite to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit that is taking place on 15-16 October in Islamabad, Pakistan. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping might also attend the summit. The invite has gone unanswered so far, but, despite all those who are advising him not to go to Islamabad, PM Modi should attend the summit.

His trip to Pakistan may help revive the moribund SAARC grouping and allow India to deal with China and the neighbouring countries better. Attending the summit would also be a reiteration of the resolve exhibited by the two countries in July 2015 at Ufa, Russia. The joint statement read,

"India and Pakistan have a collective responsibility to ensure peace and promote development. To do so, they are prepared to discuss all outstanding issues. Both leaders condemned terrorism in all its forms and agreed to cooperate with each other to eliminate this menace from South Asia."

Some Context

When India and Pakistan were made members of the SCO, both did not really qualify as the prerequisite for the same was that they should not be involved in a conflict with another member country. But the Ufa Declaration was the honeymoon phase of Prime Minister Modi’s outreach to South Asia.

Later, in December 2015, Modi did something dramatic. Like a good neighbour, he dropped by Lahore to meet Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who had also come for the former's swearing-in in May 2014.

Expectedly, this period of warmth did not last long. It was short-circuited by a terror attack in Pathankot in January 2016, which brought Modi out of his stupor. For the first time, the Indian government allowed Pakistan’s Inter-services-intelligence (ISI) to jointly probe the terror incident.

That did not yield any concrete results, but attracted scathing criticism from the Opposition. It was not just Pathankot. Terror attacks in Uri saw many casualties as well. The retaliation in its wake provided ready content to Bollywood that further legitimised the historical antagonism towards Pakistan.

India hit back with what came to be known as the 'surgical strikes', which helped craft its image as a nation that cannot be pushed beyond a point and its soldiers would hit the enemy even if it meant entering their territory. This image paid rich electoral dividends for the BJP, further burnished by the manner in which it hit back after the Pulwama terror attacks. The BJP swept the 2019 elections riding on this momentum and realised that a hard policy towards Pakistan was, indeed, necessary for the consolidation of their voter base.

Smoking the Peace Pipe

The cumulative impact of these learnings was that the government in Delhi lowered its diplomatic engagement with Pakistan till it stopped using terror as its state policy. The repatriation of US forces from Afghanistan in 2021 further devalued Islamabad’s role in this region. In other words, it ceased to be important for the US and the region. India was also not given any responsibility towards managing Afghanistan, thus hurting Pakistan’s constant demand that it needs control over Afghanistan for strategic depth, which only meant that their leadership could hide in Kabul if India attacked them.

Keeping the Pakistan issue on the backburner has not yielded the necessary dividends on the peace front. Both countries do not have ambassadors. We do not play cricket or celebrate the combined heritage that used to be the heart and soul of Hindustani cinema. On the diplomatic front, India has stopped supporting SAARC summits (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) even when we were at its centre.

Besides the antagonism towards Pakistan, India's relations with Afghanistan and now post-Hasina Bangladesh are complicated. For many years now, this government has not given visas to Afghans or Pakistanis and lately to Bangladeshis. It is not very different with the Maldives. This is proving disastrous for Indian diplomacy.

The Modi government has to initiate police keeping history and geography in mind. Recent events in Jammu and Kashmir suggest some coordination between Pakistan and China with whom we have fought wars and engaged in many skirmishes. China occupies a large part of our land as well. There are also reports that India is under pressure from BRICS and SCO countries to make up with Pakistan. Washington, sources claim, wants the same.

But even without this external pressure, it makes ample sense to get on with restoring ties with Pakistan and start playing a meaningful role in the region. For all that to happen, PM Modi should show courage and go to Islamabad. If he does, then his stature will improve when he travels to Kazan to attend the BRICS summit. Only after he smokes the peace pipe in the sub-continent would he have the credentials to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine.

(The author is the editor of Delhi's Hardnews magazine. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)