With Sharif in saddle, can India, Pakistan break ice?
Even before Nawaz Sharif, the incoming prime minister of Pakistan, had formally declared his victory, residents from his native village in India had already begun celebrations. Ironically, the two archrivals are still not regarded as “friendly neighbors.” But as the news of Sharif’s electoral win spread through the Indian media, there was a festive air there, too.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is not a huge fan of technology, but he lost no time in tweeting a congratulatory note to Sharif. The tweet has opened up a new chapter in Indo-Pak relations. He is the first Indian prime minister to have used Twitter for diplomatic reasons. Apparently, he didn’t want to wait until Sharif formally took over but it is unlikely that tweeting will become a part of the diplomatic protocol. Nonetheless, the news has been well received across the subcontinent as Singh congratulated “the (Pakistani) people and political parties” for “voting in large numbers.”
Indo-Pak ties were strained following the death of Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh in Pakistan and that of Pakistani prisoner Sanaullah Haq in India, so Singh was anxious to reinstate a state of normalcy between the two countries.
Therefore, in addition to congratulating Sharif and his party “for their emphatic victory” in the Pakistan elections, Singh also invited him to “visit India at a mutually convenient time.”
He also hoped to work with Sharif for charting “a new course for the relationship” between India and Pakistan. Singh’s friendly gesture echoes the visit by then prime minister and leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), a coalition government, Atal Behari Vajpayee.
Vajpayee visited Lahore and signed the Lahore Declaration (1999), marking a breakthrough in the strained bilateral relations at that time.
Sharif’s victory seems to have suddenly pushed the bitterness over Indo-Pak differences to the backburner. The distribution of sweets in Sharif’s native Indian village is a small but significant reflection of this sudden change in the Indian attitude toward Pakistan. In a village called, Jatti Umra, near Amritsar in Punjab, villagers began distributing sweets as soon as they learned that Sharif was heading for a landslide victory.
Jatti Umra is Sharif’s ancestral home. He was born in Lahore, but his family lived here before they migrated to Pakistan ahead of the partition (1947).
For residents of Jatti Umra, Sharif’s victory was of their “own boy” who had created history in Pakistan. In fact, the villagers had also prayed for victory of Sharif’s party.
They held prayers at a Sikh temple (Gurdwara), which was Sharif’s family’s ancestral residence. They are confident that with Sharif in power, Indo-Pak relations will improve.
They are also hopeful that as Pakistani Prime Minister, Sharif will help more youth of this village to get jobs in Gulf countries. Earlier, he helped around two dozen people of this village get jobs in Qatar.
Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid expressed hopes that with the return of Sharif to power, India will “continue to have good relations with Pakistan,” implicitly stating that diplomatic ties were not strained. He also hoped that Sharif’s victory would revive the Indo-Pak peace process. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah expressed congratulations to Sharif on behalf of Indian-controlled Kashmir.
Interestingly, BJP has also expressed hopes that Sharif as Pakistani prime minister, would give importance to strengthening ties with India. BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar recalled the 1999 Lahore Declaration and said that he “wanted to bring back those moments.”
However, it is too early to speculate how soon Indo-Pak ties are likely to improve with the change in the Pakistan government. Less than a fortnight ago, there were apprehensions about the new strain on bilateral ties with the murders of Sarabjit Singh and Sanaullah Haq.
For the present, although Sharif still has to formally take charge, Indian leaders and residents of his native village are rapturously celebrating his victory.
Diplomatically speaking, issues known as permanent irritants in Indo-Pak ties are least likely to be resolved soon.
At the most, more handshakes, talks and perhaps some confidence-building-measures (CBMs) may be expected to create the impression that India and Pakistan are making efforts to reach an agreement and/or resolve these issues.
In essence, not much headway is expected in India-Pakistan relations, where their differences, including those over Kashmir dispute, are concerned.
Nevertheless, the opportunity was just right for India to let the world know that it is keen on improving ties with Pakistan and expects Sharif’s victory to add greater momentum to this.
And this apparently made it all the more crucial for Indian leaders to send positive signals regarding their reaction to Sharif’s victory especially, the Indian premier who has made a personal history of sorts by using his Twitter account to send his congratulations.
It remains to be seen now, how Nawaz Sharif reacts to these messages and for how long these positive signals last.
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