Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi’s remarks about terrorism in the BRICS summit in which he referred to Pakistan as the “mothership of terrorism” without actually naming it is a brazen manifestation of his current policy of vilifying Pakistan at the international stage, and raises serious concerns about his future foreign policy objectives vis-a-vis Pakistan. In an apparent bid to deliver on his words to internationally ‘isolate’ Pakistan, such diplomatic attacks by Modi risk being interpreted as blatant bellicosity. Regardless, Modi’s current policy is plunging Pakistan-India relations to a level in which voices of sanity get silenced while those intoxicated in their jingoistic fervour are emboldened to appropriate greater space for themselves. Whether it is the religious right in Pakistan or the Hindutva right wing in India, the Indian prime minister is strengthening the very forces that campaign against pluralism and spread their bigotry. In Pakistan, Modi is giving more ammunition to the religious right to up their demonisation in India, while in his own country, his actions are eroding the democratic foundations of India and strengthening the virulent voices of intolerance.
In response to Modi’s remarks about Pakistan at the BRICS summit, Advisor to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz said that India is deflecting attention from its atrocities in occupied Jammu and Kashmir, and it does not have moral standing to talk about counterterrorism given its own role in perpetrating terrorism in Pakistan. This open point scoring by Pakistan and India is quite frankly embarrassing for both countries, as their churlish statements are showing the world their inability to even engage with each other on meaningful terms. It is confounding as to why has it become so difficult to find mutually acceptable terms to at least start a dialogue process.
The use of BRICS summit by India to talk about Pakistan was in actuality nothing but diplomatic flexing by India just to show Pakistan that it belongs to a league of powerful countries. While there is no doubt that India is an emerging economy and offers the world a vast market, but there are limitations as to what it can convince other countries to do vis-à-vis Pakistan. It might have been easy to convince small countries that are dependent on India in one way or the other to boycott the SAARC summit, but, as Indian learned at the BRICS summit, powerful countries like China and Russia have their interests with Pakistan, which they are not willing to risk on Indian suggestion to do so.
Furthermore, what India wishes to achieve from pursuing this path of worsening relations with Pakistan is hard to ascertain. India can hardly expect Pakistan to address its concerns if it openly conspires to work against Pakistan. Completely forsaking the path of dialogue, especially when Pakistan has repeatedly asked to initiate dialogue, does not befit a country that aspires to be a regional power. Modi could have exhibited the skills of a statesman following in the footsteps of his legendary predecessor, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and worked towards making South Asia a better place, but instead he seems to have chosen to pander to the jingoism within his country. It is still not too late, and Modi can go down in history as an Indian leader who made peace between Pakistan and India. But for that to happen, such aggressive posturing would have to give way to sustained dialogue. http://dailytimes.com.pk/editorial/18-Oct-16/modis-remarks-in-the-brics-summit
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