Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday told his Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan that creating trust and an environment free of violence and terrorism were essential for fostering cooperation for peace, progress and prosperity in South Asian region. Modi, who takes oath as Prime Minister on May 30 for a second successive five-year tenure, outlined India’s terms of engagement with Pakistan to Khan when the latter called him up and congratulated on his victory in recent general elections.
During their first telephonic conversation since India’s air strikes on a terror camp in Balakot in Pakistan on February 26, Modi recalled his initiatives in line with his government’s neighbourhood first policy and referred to his earlier suggestion to the Prime Minister of Pakistan to fight poverty jointly, according to a statement issued by the Indian PMO.
Modi, the statement said, “stressed that creating trust and an environment free of violence and terrorism were essential for fostering cooperation for peace, progress and prosperity in our region.” For his part, Khan expressed his desire to work with Modi for the betterment of their peoples. The Pakistan PM’s phone call to Modi came days after the cricketer-turned-politician congratulated on Twitter the Indian Prime Minister on his massive electoral victory in the general elections.
Prime Minister Modi on Thursday led his Bharatiya Janata Party to a landmark victory winning 302 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha. According to Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Faisal, Imran Khan reiterated his vision for peace, progress and prosperity in South Asia and said he looked forward to working with Prime Minister Modi to advance these objectives.
The results of India's general elections were significant for Pakistan as the formation of the next government in New Delhi will determine the course of Indo-Pakistan ties which were pushed to a new low after the deadly attack by Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed on a convoy of Indian paramilitary personnel in Pulwama on February 14 which left 40 people dead.
Indian officials said New Delhi would continue to adhere to its known stand that terror and talks cannot go together. India has made resumption of dialogue with Pakistan conditional to Pakistan acting against terror with verifiable results. The two countries have not had any structured bilateral dialogue since the Mumbai terror attack in November 2008 when 166 people were killed.
In April, Imran Khan had said he believed there may be a better chance of peace talks with India and settle the Kashmir issue if Modi's party BJP wins the general elections. Just a day before the announcement of results, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj exchanged pleasantries on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers' meeting in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, and conveyed to her Pakistan's desire to resolve all issues through dialogue.
There is a possibility of Modi and Khan having a bilateral meeting on the margins of the SCO Summit in Bishkek in June. Tensions between India and Pakistan had flared up after the Pulwama incident and the Indian Air Force (IAF) carried out a counter-terror operation, hitting the biggest training JeM camp in Balakot, on February 26. The next day, Pakistan Air Force retaliated and downed a MiG-21 of the IAF in a dogfight and captured an IAF pilot who was handed over to India two days later.
The air strike in Balakot had featured prominently in Modi’s poll campaign speeches showing it as his government’s tough response to terror, a stand which found resonance among voters as evidenced by election results which gave the BJP its biggest poll mandate.