Modi's long detour to peace
- By Sajjad Malik
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E-mail China.org.cn, December 29, 2015
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Indain Prime Minister Narendra Modi warmly received by the Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif at Lahore, Pakistan. |
China is among the list of leading countries according welcome to the visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Pakistan. The visit has given a major push to efforts for peace between nuclear-armed Pakistan and India, which have fought three major wars since independence from Britain in 1947, in addition to several border clashes.
The visit by Modi will not only increase space for peace efforts and avert a potential nuclear conflagration but also hugely contribute to the economic growth of the entire region and the world.
Prime Minister Modi surprised people in Pakistan as well as in India on Friday by making an unannounced trip to Lahore, apparently to cheer up his counterpart Nawaz Sharif on his birthday on the Christmas day. By all official accounts, it was an unscheduled trip and Modi only expressed his intention for a stopover around mid-day when he called Sharif from Kabul where he was on official trip.
Sharif not only welcomed him but invited him at his palatial residential Raiwind estate in suburbs of Lahore. He came to the airport to receive the Indian leader and accompanied him on way back again to see him off - a gesture greatly touching Modi who also expressed it in a tweet.
It was hard to believe if it was same Modi who breathed fire against Pakistan in his election campaign in 2014, which paid huge dividends in the shape of his victory. He also used anti-Pakistan card smartly to win a couple elections in Indian states, including one last year in Himalayan region of Kashmir which is divided between the two countries and is main bone of contention.
Both countries claim Kashmir in entirety and have fought two major wars over this disputed region.
Modi's rise to power has been hardly enviable. He is allegedly linked with the Gujarat massacre in 2002 when as chief minister of the state; he was accused of failing to stop massive violence which resulted in killing of hundreds of minority Muslims. He was tabbed as "butcher of Gujarat" and was boycotted for years by several Western countries for his human right record.
His association with hardline and rightwing Hindu extremist groups is also not a secret. His rise to power emboldened the fundamentalist elements and several cases of violence against minorities, especially Muslims, have been reported from India.
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