It took a Himalayan retreat at Dhulikhel, about 20 km from Kathmandu, for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif to break some ice after the foreign secretary-level talks debacle in August.
There was at least a semblance of a thaw as Modi shook hands with Sharif and exchanged greetings at a resort terrace overlooking a wide expanse of the Himalayas on Thursday last and later followed it up with an even longer shaking of hands back in Kathmandu in the evening as the 18th Saarc summit ended “successfully”. The two were cheered on by other Saarc leaders as they shook hands for nearly 40 seconds and posed for the cameras in the Nepal capital.
There was no substantive “one-on-one” dialogue between the two leaders at any stage but the interaction and the long handshake was enough to spark hope, if not expectations, about a possible resumption of dialogue between the two countries after their ties seemed to have taken a debilitating blow in August.
“We want to have peaceful relations with Pakistan, a meaningful dialogue and if this interaction or handshake leads to it, we will welcome that,” said India's foreign ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin. The fact that Pakistan relented and agreed to sign a framework agreement for energy cooperation, which the Indian Cabinet had cleared last week in anticipation of a Saarc agreement, also seemed to have given Modi enough leeway to be seen in public as bonding with Sharif. Pakistan seemed to have indicated in the morning that it was looking for a successful conclusion of the agreement during the day. India described Modi's first Saarc outing as a “success” after the signing of the agreement.
At the Dhulikhel retreat, the two leaders also sat close to each other while they bonded over a vegetarian lunch sampling delicacies from all Saarc countries in a “convivial atmosphere.” As host, Nepal PM Sushil Koirala apparently played a role in getting Modi to shake hands with Sharif at the retreat, but Indian officials said Modi greeted Sharif as he did other leaders. “They exchanged greetings, courtesies were extended,” Akbaruddin said.
While there were reports that Sharif expressed disappointment towards the end that he could not have a bilateral meeting with Modi, Indian officials said they were not aware of any such sentiment expressed by the Pakistani side, adding that Saarc is not just about India and Pakistan. Sharif 's advisor on foreign affairs Sartaj Aziz, too, described the summit as successful saying Saarc is not just India and Pakistan. The thaw followed a fresh chill in ties when Modi on Wednesday had bilateral meetings with all Saarc leaders except Sharif, with neither side approaching the other with proposal for a structured dialogue. Pakistani officials expressed hope that the interaction in Kathmandu would lead to a more substantive engagement.
India had cancelled the scheduled talks between foreign secretaries in August after the Pakistan high commissioner, Abdul Basit, chose to have a “routine” meeting with Hurriyat leaders before the dialogue. Modi then was blamed by some for having set the bar so high for facilitating any India-Pakistan dialogue that ties could remain frozen for years. India, however, stuck to its stand saying that this was actually the first time that a Pakistan high commissioner had met separatists in India before any scheduled dialogue in Pakistan.
India to give business visa for 3-5 years for Saarc
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India would give business visa for three to five years for Saarc countries and called for making procedures simple and facilities better. "India will now give business visa for three-five years for Saarc countries," Modi said at the two-day Saarc summit. "I also believe that if we can light up each other's towns and villages, we can build a brighter tomorrow for our region," he added. He noted: "India has huge trade surplus with Saarc countries. I believe that this is neither right nor sustainable." "Let's all make our procedures simple, our facilities better, our standards common and our paper work less burdensome."
