OrionHunter
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Marhaba NaMo – Mission Accomplished
The electric atmosphere in the Dubai Stadium may have dominated the headlines during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to the UAE but it is the post-visit comments by Dr. Anwar Gargash, Foreign Affairs Minister of the UAE, that truly convey the success of the visit.
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د. أنور قرقاش ✔ @AnwarGargash Flying to Dubai with Prime Minister Modi. Privileged to be part of his historic visit to the UAE, and… https://instagram.com/p/6f8ttbShb9/
Taking to Twitter Dr. Anwar Gargash made a significant comment on what he called “common political values” of India and UAE while underscoring the twin dimensions of the strategic relationship – economic and political. Describing the Prime Minister as someone with humility and having realistic vision, Dr. Gargash laid out why India commanded the region’s trust and respect – its Institutions, its Credibility and the Magnetism of its Leadership. While some may put a 75 billion dollar price tag on this, the real price of this trust and respect is invaluable for the message it has sent to not just citizens of either Nation but to the extended neighbourhood.
Pakistan Media wakes up to Marhaba NaMo
Here is what the lead editorial in The Dawn had to say on the 20th of August on the Prime Minister’s visit to the UAE...
“Lingering Territorial Disputes are no longer the driving force behind Foreign Policy”
“The game is no longer about pushing a single agenda item”
“India is on the move spinning a web of connectivity from Middle East to South East Asia”
Calling for Pakistan’s Foreign Policy Establishment to wake up, The Dawn grudgingly acknowledged that game had been altered fundamentally by Narendra Modi’s Foreign Policy over the past 15 months.
While the Express Tribune and The Daily Times echoed the Dawn with cartoons showing NaMo being toasted by the Arabs to a 75 billion dollar investment even as a forlorn Sharif with a begging bowl looked left out. The News International in its lead editorial also on the 20th of August betrayed grave anxiety over Pakistan feeling edged out by Prime Minister Modi’s Gulf Diplomacy.
The Nation in its editorial a day earlier on the 19th of August was more profuse in its reactions calling the Prime Minister – “Modi the Magnificent” spoke of how Indian Foreign Policy under the Prime Minister had shifted gears even as the editorial lamented the fact that Pakistan’s failing Foreign Policy did not even have a Foreign Minister. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif got an earful as well from the Nation over his ineffective handling of the Foreign Portfolio with recent visits making little impact.
If this was the mood within Pakistan’s English Media, the mood within the hyper patriotic Urdu Media was markedly defensive with the Prime Minister’s Dubai speech setting the tone in the Jung, while the Express sought to deflect attention from shrinking Pakistani influence in the UAE. Comments by a senior Journalist during a Talk Show in the Dunya News on the 19th of August on the “heavy price to be paid by Pakistan” pretty much sum up the mood in Pakistan on the impact of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Foreign Policy.
NaMo’s Message to Pakistan – “With You” OR “Without You” AND “Despite You”
To all those confused over what is Narendra Modi’s Pakistan strategy one can only say that they are confusing the woods for the trees as they obsessively focus on Kashmir. If you really want to understand Narendra Modi’s Pakistan strategy you will not find traces of it in the crossfire across the LoC but rather in the palpable anxiety spread across the Pakistani Media over what’s happening miles away from the Border in an altogether different direction.
The India-Pakistan relationship for many years now has swung like a pendulum with on and off talks punctuated by terror and political events on either side of the border. For the first time however we are witnessing a post Nehruvian Indian Foreign Policy approach where the impact is being felt in Pakistan as India moves ahead with a Kautilyan Raja Mandala stretching from the Middle East to Southeast Asia to Central Asia and beyond.
The central message of Narendra Modi’s Pakistan Policy is quite simply that India is moving on with its geo-political agenda rooted in shared strategic values and shared economic interests with a range of Nations based on the mantra – with you OR without you AND despite you.
"Marhaba NaMo" - Understanding Narendra Modi's Pakistan Strategy
Is there anything more to say except that Modi's just dealt a winning hand?
