Before he left for India, the Pakistan military made it clear to Sharif that it had deep reservations about his trip. There is deep distrust of Modi given his failure to stem anti-Muslim riots in 2002 when he was chief minister of Gujarat. Meanwhile some members of Modis BJP, whose real political birth was effectively marked by the destruction of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya in 1992, questioned the warm welcome being extended to Sharif.
Modi used his talks with his opposite number to press for action on the trial of the seven Pakistanis suspected of involvement in the 2008 Mumbai massacre. The accused include Hafiz Saeed, the leader of the outlawed group Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD). This is a hugely sensitive issue for Islamabad. Just how sensitive was made clear last week. Prosecutors in the Anti-Terrorism Court in Rawalpindi requested greater protection because of threats made to them by extremists. Pakistani lawyers who have taken on unpopular cases have in the past been beaten and murdered. It is not simply relations with India that are in the balance over this terrorism trial. The whole system of Pakistani justice is in question.
However the challenge posed by Indias suspicion that Pakistan is unwilling, even if it were able, to clamp down on extremist groups operating in the country, is outweighed by the key issue of Kashmir. Indeed it is the activity of the JuD and other groups in the disputed region that lies at the heart of the territorial dispute, which seems set insolubly in stone.
Yet something odd happened this week in Delhi. A senior member of Modis inner circle, suggested an amendment to Article 370 of the Indian constitution, which gives the authorities in Indian-controlled Kashmir, the right to decide which pieces of Indian legislation they will adopt. This caused the regions chief minister Omar Abdullah to protest that if the article were removed, Kashmir wont be a part of India. This in turn prompted one important BJP supporter, Ram Madhav, to thunder back that the territory would remain part of India, with or without Article 370.
On the face of it, the new BJP administration therefore looks even less amenable to any discussion about the status of Kashmir than its successive Congress predecessors. Yet there has to be a distant hope that unforeseen outside forces could change this policy.
It all depends on Modis success in kick-starting the Indian economy. He has to make it an attractive proposition for domestic, let alone as international investors, who are both sitting on their checkbooks. To achieve this he must demonstrate that Indias corrupt and inefficient bureaucracy is being cut and reformed. Investment wants a level administrative playing field as well as legal and political stability. Indias economic revival would be boosted by access to Pakistans substantial market. To achieve that will require an early mending of fences. With resumed and enhanced trade will come better communications, from which will come better understanding. No one should underestimate the high barrier of mutual mistrust that must be demolished. But Modi has arrived in office with a pledge of major change. Unlikely though it may seem to many in Pakistan, he could therefore be the instrument to transform relations between these two historic rivals. Arab News.
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