Pakistan is geographically located between India and Afghanistan. On Sunday, while inaugurating the ministerial deliberations of the Heart of Asia Conference in Amritsar, the leaders of both the countries together succeeded in literally sandwiching Pakistan.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while talking about building geography of peace in Afghanistan, indirectly indicted Pakistan. “We must demonstrate strong collective will to defeat terror networks that cause bloodshed and spread fear,'' he said, adding “Terrorism and externally induced instability pose the gravest threat to Afghanistan’s peace, stability and prosperity...the growing arc of terrorist violence endangers our entire region. As such, support for voices of peace in Afghanistan alone is not enough. It must be backed by resolute action. Not just against forces of terrorism, but also against those who support, shelter, train and finance them”.
Modi further emphasised that “Silence and inaction against terrorism in Afghanistan and our region will only embolden terrorists and their masters”.
Afghan president Ashraf Ghani was more direct. Pointing out that Pakistan is offering a 'sanctuary' to terrorists, he said, “As Mr Kakazada, one of the key figures of the Taliban, movement recently said, if they did not have sanctuary in Pakistan, they would not last a month. We need intense dialogue and engagement”.
Ghani proposed that the money Pakistan was pledging to the Heart of Asia initiative could be used for ending terrorism instead. “Pakistan has generously pledged $ 500 million for reconstruction of Afghanistan. This fund, Mr (Sartaj) Aziz, could very well be used for containing extremism because without peace, any amount of assistance will not meet the needs of our people. We have to balance the opportunities and the threats. I am confident that focused, deliberate and systematic efforts can enable us to win a world and to make Afghanistan and Asia secure”.
On the contrary, Ghani was all praise for the Indian help, which he said was impressive in scale and system of delivery. He called the Indian assistance transparent and without strings attached. “There are no hidden agreements and secret conditions. It is convergence of interests and values of two states...Your words, assuring the Afghan people of the support of 1.4 billion strong Indian people, have been quickly matched by deeds, as demonstrated by your pledge of one billion dollars of new developmental assistance.''
Aziz, who arrived in India a day before schedule (reportedly to avoid fog related delays) spoke of the need for constructive efforts towards regional peace instead of playing the blame game. He also suggested that Pakistan should not be singled out, given the escalation of violence in Afghanistan as well.
