As the country celebrated Pakistan Day on Tuesday with zeal and zest, neighbouring India took the opportunity to extend a hand of piece to Pakistan.
In a Pakistan Day message, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Prime Minister Imran Khan that his country desires cordial relations with the Pakistani people. The message, dated March 22, was conveyed to Prime Minister Imran Khan by the Indian High Commission in Islamabad through the Foreign Office on Tuesday.
In his letter, Modi extended greetings to the people of Pakistan on the occasion of Pakistan Day, which was celebrated across the country on Tuesday. “As a neighbouring country, India desires cordial relations with the people of Pakistan,” Modi wrote. “For this, an environment of trust, devoid of terror and hostility, is imperative,” he added.
The Indian premier also conveyed wishes to Imran Khan and the Pakistani people for dealing with the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic, terming it a ‘difficult time for humanity’. “Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration,” the message concluded.
The ‘olive branch’ by India has been extended a day after reports emerged that Pakistan and India have begun to work on a four-step ‘roadmap for peace’ facilitated by the United Arab Emirates. A report by Bloomberg on Monday had claimed that the surprise joint statement announced by the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two countries on February 25, that agreed to end cross LoC ceasefire violations (CFVs), was the outcome of talks ‘brokered’ by the UAE months earlier and that the visit of UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed to New Delhi on February 26 also discussed progress in the India-Pakistan peace process with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
After the ceasefire, the UAE was one of a handful of countries to issue a statement welcoming the ceasefire announcement, highlighting the ‘close historical ties’ it has with both India and Pakistan and hailing “the efforts made by both countries to come to this agreement.”
“The ceasefire is only the beginning of a larger roadmap to forge a lasting peace between the neighbors, both of which have nuclear weapons and spar regularly over a decades-old territory dispute,” according to one of the officials aware of the situation who asked not to be identified. The next step in the process, the official said, involves both sides reinstating envoys in New Delhi and Islamabad, who were pulled in 2019 after Pakistan protested India’s move to revoke seven decades of autonomy for the Jammu and Kashmir. Then comes the hard part: talks on resuming trade and a lasting resolution on Kashmir, the official added.
Last week, Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa had asked India “to bury the past and move forward” while saying the military was ready to enter talks to resolve “all our outstanding issues.” The comments came a day after Prime Minister Imran Khan after called for a resolution on Kashmir, which he described as “the one issue that holds us back.”
On Saturday, Modi had also sent a tweet wishing Khan well after he was diagnosed with Covid-19 – another sign that relations between the countries were getting warmer. In Washington, State Department spokesman Ned Price dodged a question on what role the US played in bringing the two sides together while urging Pakistan to play a constructive role in Afghanistan, Kashmir and other places. “Obviously Pakistan has an important role to play when it comes to Afghanistan and what takes place across its other border,” Price said on Feb 25. “So clearly, we will be paying close attention.”
