Prime M?inister Narendra Modi is to be congratulated for his brave move in announcing he will visit Pakistan.
I do not only mean b??rave from the point of view of physical courage. I have been to Pakistan many times and not felt unsafe, and it is clear that Modi will find that he is given security of the highest standard. But even Pakistan's most protected man, president Pervez Musharraf had his convoy bombed twice and its former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was killed not that long ago. So Modi is brave in agreeing to go where even cricket teams have refused.
The second way in which he has been brave is that he has defied many in our media and also our strategic affairs experts in reaching out to Pakistan decisively. More importantly he is defying those Bharatiya Janata Party supporters who insist that Pakistan only be dealt with firmly or not at all.
Modi has for a long time been celebrated for thumbing his nose at Nawaz Sharif. India for the last one year has said it will be able to bend Pakistan to its terms. This was the reason that India sulked with Pakistan over non-issues like the Hurriyat meeting the Pakistani high commissioner. On other matters, like the almost incessant shelling across the Line of Control, it has become clear that the BJP could not sustain its posture that India had enough firepower to overwhelm Pakistan decisively. We did not. Given this reality, India would have ?had ???to change its attitude towards Pakistan. Modi has done so, as I said, decisively. Visiting Pakistan by a man from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh who has viewed that nation as an eternal enemy is an exceptional gesture.
My old boss MJ Akbar, who is these days in the BJP as its national spokesman, put a brave face on this U-turn by Modi. He said that "for the first time Pakistan has accepted to combat terrorism in 'all its forms'." This is of course a lie. Pakistan has used this exact formulation — rejecting terrorism in 'all its forms' — since 9/11. In fact the 'all its forms' phrase was specifically used by Pakistan to include what it says is Indian state terrorism in Kashmir! So for the BJP to now call it a triumph is a bit rich.
The fact is that Modi went to Central Asia this week and would have learnt that any business he wanted to do with them for their natural resources including gas would happen only through Pakistan. India cannot expect to Central Asia to dislocate itself and jump over Afghanistan and Pakistan. If we want good and robust relations with Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan we can only do that after we have good and robust relations with Pakistan.
There is no running away from geography as that other BJP leader, Atal Behari Vajpayee, often said in his wisdom. I agree totally.
Anyway, I should at this point toot my own horn. I had written this in November last year after yet another instance when Modi had changed his position on Pakistan: