Modi’s get well message to Imran Khan adds to peace momentum with Pakistan

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s timely tweet wishing Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan well after he had contracted Covid-19 is yet another step to improve the frayed relationship between New Delhi and Islamabad.</p>
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PM Modi tweeted, "Best wishes to Prime Minister@ImranKhanPTI for a speedy recovery from COVID-19."</p>
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Imran Khan has tested positive for the COVID-19 and is self-isolating at home, his top aide on health announced, two days after he got the first shot of a vaccine.</p>
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PM Modi’s tweet follows three major steps that the two neighbours have taken in the last couple of months to help lower the animosity between the two neighbours, and open the door for a possible turnaround in the relationship.</p>
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Last month the two countries broke fresh ground when they decided to revive their dormant agreement of 2003 to stop firing at each other across the Line of Control (LoC), their interim border.</p>
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From the Pakistani side, two major back-to- back speeches earlier this week—one by Prime Minister Khan and another by the powerful Army Chief, Qamar Javed Bajwa have been delivered that build on the foundations of the ceasefire agreement.</p>
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During his address, Khan offered to open the gates of Central Asia to Indian exporters.</p>
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Though mutual trust between the two countries is at its nadir, it is nevertheless important to recognise the importance of Imran Khan’s statement. With the corridor to Central Asia open, India can leverage Pakistan’s unique geography, and send vehicles laden with highly prized goods into Pakistan, Afghanistan and rest of the Eurasian landlocked region.</p>
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Pakistan will make impressive economic gains if it opens the Central Asian route. Cash strapped Pakistan, whose economy is on life-support, will find money flowing out of Indian coffers as trade transit fee more than handy.</p>
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Pakistan could secure more lucrative gains besides transit treasure. For long, the Americans have been backing the Turkmenistan Afghanistan Pakistan India (TAPI) gas pipeline. Turbulence in Afghanistan and Pakistan, however, have discouraged big boys of the energy business from investing in the project. But in case heavy violence both in Pakistan and Islamabad is dialled down perceptibly, the peace dividend can once again turn Central Asia-AfPak zone into a giant corridor for channelling gas flows from Central Asia into the ever-hungry Indian energy market.</p>
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<strong>Also Read: <a href="https://www.indianarrative.com/world-news/imran-khan-s-offer-of-opening-the-central-asia-route-to-india-merits-attention-74543.html">Imran Khan’s offer of opening the Central Asia route to India merits attention</a></strong></p>
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In his follow up address, signalling that all the pillars of Pakistani power hierarchy were on board, Gen. Bajwa declared that a better and stable relation between India and Pakistan was vital for ‘unlocking’ the potential of South and Central Asia.</p>
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"We have learned from the past and are willing to move ahead towards a new future. However, this is contingent on reciprocity," Bajwa had observed.</p>
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<strong>Also Read: <a href="https://www.indianarrative.com/world-news/does-bajwa-s-statement-mean-pakistan-is-offering-olive-branch-to-india-74594.html">Does Bajwa's statement mean Pakistan is offering olive branch to India?</a></strong></p>
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PM Modi’s timely tweet wishing his Pakistani counterpart a quick recovery is therefore yet another incremental act of statesmanship, anchored in a willingness to revisit a so far intractable dispute, born out of the partition of the subcontinent.</p>