Nawaz, Modi set to meet in Russia today

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi will meet today (Friday) in their first bilateral meeting since May 2014, when Nawaz graciously accepted an invitation from Modi to attend his oath-taking ceremony.
Pakistan is confident that the Ufa meeting will have a ‘positive’ impact on bilateral relations.The two Saarc leaders will meet on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit where Nawaz will also have meetings with the presidents of Russia, China and Afghanistan.
Though the bilateral meeting has been billed for half an hour only, no one will be surprised if it stretched beyond the agreed limit.The meeting, according to the spokesman for the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, was requested by New Delhi. Pakistan has maintained ever since India arrogantly cancelled foreign secretary-level talks that it was now up to New Delhi to reach out, and Pakistan would not disappoint.
The two prime ministers did meet and shake hands for a photo op last autumn at the Saarc Summit in Kathmandu but there was no bilateral meeting. Modi has, however, made several telephone calls to Saarc leaders on different occasions including Nawaz Sharif.
Announcing today’s (Friday) meeting in Ufa, the spokesman at the Foreign Office said that all issues of ‘importance’ will be discussed.“The meeting between leaders is a positive development. Tomorrow’s meeting between the two prime ministers is expected to have a positive impact on bilateral relations. The international community is also interested in the improvement of relations between Pakistan and India as it would benefit not only the people of the two countries but also the whole region,” said the spokesman.
Behind the scenes activities to set up the meeting had been going on during the past few weeks with the active involvement of the High Commission of Pakistan in Delhi and the IndianHigh Commission here. Important world capitals have also nudged the two sides to sit across the table.
India’s request for the meeting comes after the Modi government tried every trick in the world to belittle, isolate and provoke Pakistan, but it failed completely.Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed tells The News, “India realises it is being isolated itself in trying to isolate Pakistan as Pakistan’s role is key since international community realises that road to peace in Kabul lies through Islamabad plus Pakistan’s outreach to Russia and the CPEC has transformed realities to favour Pakistan.”
While the Indian media went ballistic on Thursday about Modi’s meeting with his Chinese counterpart and complaining about China’s role at the UN against alleged Mumbai mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, Delhi was given a shut up call by Beijing.
China defended its role at UN by saying, “As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China always deals with the 1,267 committee matters based on facts and in the spirit of objectiveness and fairness”.
Pakistan has already called Indian objections to the CPEC as “intervention”.“India’s reaction is unnecessary. I would say it’s an intervention in our internal affairs. We have tried to promote connectivity and reach out to all the neighbouring countries,” Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said recently.
The spokesman said that Nawaz Sharif’s meeting with Putin will give fresh impetus to bilateral relations. Recently, it was the COAS who had a high key visit to Moscow.
When asked to comment on the advice of the US ambassador who said recently in Peshawar that the time for ‘proxy wars’ had ended, the spokesman responded, “As far as proxy war is concerned, Pakistan is against it. We believe in peaceful resolution of disputes and issues. In our own case, we are following a policy of good neighbourly relations. We are committed to resolving all our disputes with our neighbours peacefully through talks.”
Meanwhile, Pakistan is hopeful that its full membership of SCO will be approved in principle.“Subsequently, a number of formalities will need to be completed before full membership can be granted,” said the spokesman.
The spokesman even on Thursday was reluctant to identify representatives of the Ashraf Ghani government and the Afghan Taliban who held their first formal talks in Murree on Tuesday.
“About participation of Haqqani network representative in the talks, I am not in a position to say anything about the composition of the delegations of the two sides,” responded the spokesman at a time when Kabul officially announced that its deputy foreign minister would lead the Afghan government delegation and the Taliban have confirmed the presence of a repetitive from the Haqqani network.
However, the spokesman clarified that China and the United States participated in the Murree parleys and were not mere observers.The spokesman rightly took objection to Daesh being called the Islamic State and said that Pakistan was alert to tackle these threats.
“I would refer to the outfit as Daesh as there is nothing Islamic about it. Regarding security checks, Pakistan has alerted its security agencies to the threat posed by Daesh. Our authorities are vigilant and have been advised to take necessary action in this regard, if required. As a matter of policy, Pakistan does not allow its nationals to participate in conflicts outside of Pakistan as non-state actors,” he added.To a query, the spokesman said the Afghan government has appreciated Pakistan’s role in facilitating the talks.
“They have reiterated their desire for peace in Afghanistan. You must have noted that the need for developing confidence building measures was also emphasised during talks, as mentioned in our press release. Let me reiterate that Pakistan is committed to supporting an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace and reconciliation process. We remain in touch with the government of Afghanistan and you can see that there is also a strong desire on their part as well to promote the peace process. It is evident from the participation of Afghan government delegation in the talks hosted by Pakistan,” he said.
Agencies add from UFA, Russia: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has suggested a four-pronged approach encompassing people-to-people contacts, confidence building in peace and security, trade and regional connectivity among the BRICS countries for the uplift of their people.
Addressing the BRICS Outreach Meeting on sidelines of the SCO Summit, the prime minister said Pakistan valued its interaction with BRICS which consisted of important countries of the region and beyond.
Earlier, the prime minister along with his delegation arrived here on the second leg of his visit from Oslo to lead Pakistani delegation at the 15th SCO Summit and 7th BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) Summit.
The delegation included Begum Kulsoom Nawaz, Adviser to PM on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz and Special Assistant to PM Tariq Fatemi.As the prime minister reached the Congress Hall to attend the BRICS Outreach Meeting, Russian President Vladimir Putin received him.
In his address, the prime minister said Pakistan’s fight against terror, including the ongoing military operation, was not only for protection of Pakistan rather it was very critical for peace of the region as well as the international community.
He said Pakistan had rendered huge sacrifices in terms of human and economic losses but that had not weakened the resolve to fight against extremism and uproot terrorism.“We remain absolutely determined to take this campaign to its logical conclusion in order to achieve our objective of peaceful and prosperous region.”
He also called for a commitment to work together in order to promote peace and development in the region and beyond in a true spirit of collaboration and cooperation. Nawaz called for collectively focusing on improvement and wellbeing of people. He proposed to promote mutual understanding cooperation and goodwill through cultural academic interaction and people-to-people contacts.
Calling for promotion of confidence, he said the confidence building in peace and security was an essential ingredient for endeavours towards shared prosperity.The prime minister suggested promoting bilateral and regional trade and commerce, introduction of cohesive laws, reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers and easing the movement of people and merchandise across the borders.
Moreover, he also proposed for promoting connectivity by investing in regional infrastructure including investment in better transport networks including roads, motorways, railways and air and sea links.
He congratulated Putin on hosting the 7th BRICS Summit and the 15th SCO Summit.“We are grateful to our host President Vladimir Putin and the Government of the Russian Federation for bringing SCO and BRICS member community together under one roof. This would go a long way in promoting inclusive and synergetic approach to economic development,” he remarked.
“This interaction coincides with the consensus to make Pakistan a full member of the SCO,” the prime minister said.“Pakistan’s economic growth has remained steady. We have unveiled Vision 2025 to provide a solid platform for the revival of sustainable and inclusive growth. The potential growth sectors such as infrastructure power and natural resources are open to large scale investments,” he said.
He said ‘peace for development’ and ‘development for peace’ for the region in which regional connectivity and economic integration were the key components.Towards this end, he said, Pakistan had been actively engaged at several regional fora including Saarc and ECO. Pakistan would be hosting Summit meetings of both these important regional organisations in future, he added.
Nawaz said Pakistan had been collaborating with a number of SCO and BRICS members to promote progress and prosperity of people. “With Chinese collaboration, Pakistan is building the China Pakistan Economic Corridor as an important part of President Xi Jinping’s visionary initiative of One Road and One Belt and a Community of Shared Destiny,” he added.