Modi and Sharif Must Commit to a Plan for Future India-Pakistan Relations, Says PN Member Sherry Rehman

On his first day in office, India’s new Prime Minister Narendra Modi met his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif.

In her article “The Audacity of Hope” publisehd by The International News and The Times of India, PN Member Sherry Rehman is sharing her view about what this first encounter after years of stalled dialogue can potentially bring.

1. Modi and Sharif can use the meeting to kick-start a long, often challenging journey of planned engagement to make South Asia a prohibitive, lonelier place on the planet for terrorists, poverty and energy insecurity.
2. They need to move beyond economic ties and make the executive leap to broader course correction and resumption of full spectrum composite dialogue, including Kashmir. Before that can realistically be uninterruptible, PM Sharif has the Mumbai-trial baggage to sort, while PM Modi has to moderate some of his colleagues’ hawkish talk.
3. Any real test of diplomacy will be during a flashpoint moment. Therefore, before the next crisis erupts, both PMs must commit to a timelined plan to prevent events taking on a life of their own.

Even the smallest ambition for peace between India and Pakistan needs statesmanship and roadblock-mitigation, writes Sherry Rehman and concludes: “Hope is not a plan, no matter how audacious.”

To read the original article, please click here.

Photo courtesy of MEAphotogallery.

PN member Sherry Rehman served as Pakistan’s Ambassador to United States from 2011 to 2013. Before her designation, she was Member of Parliament in the National Assembly of Pakistan from the Pakistan People’s Party for her second term. She served as Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Pakistan (2008-09) and ranking member of the National Security Committee in the Parliament.