Experts express surprise, praise for India-Pakistan cricket diplomacy
March 30th, 2011 - 12:27 pm ICT by ANI
New Delhi, Mar. 30 (ANI): Experts and analysts on South Asia have expressed both surprise and praise for Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh’s initiative to invite his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani to watch the World Cup semi-final between the two countries to be played on Wednesday afternoon in Mohali.
“It has caught everybody by surprise. In diplomacy, you have to do the preparatory work first if you want to have a result. This sounds like an impulsive move,” the New York Times quoted Brahma Chellaney, a strategic affairs analyst in New Delhi, as saying.
Harish Khare, the Indian Prime Minister’s Media Adviser, described the invitation as a “spur of the moment” decision.
He said that there would be no specific agenda or any structured dialogue. Rather, it will be an opportunity to build trust, enjoy the match and have “an exchange of ideas.”
“The prime minister just said, ‘Come along,’ ” Khare said.
“Of course, there will be some talk. But it is not a summit meeting. And it will not interfere with the ongoing dialogue,” he added.
“You will see relations become more friendly and cordial, even outside the cricket grounds,” predicted Abid Saeed, the press counselor for the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi.
He said a delegation of about 50 ministers and officials was traveling with Prime Minister Gilani.
C. Raja Mohan, a senior fellow at the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi, applauded Dr. Singh’s gambit, noting that for all the highly structured meetings by lower-level officials, progress is usually made when the top leaders are directly engaged.
Mohan said that if the cricket diplomacy resulted in warmer relations, Dr. Singh should visit Pakistan as his next move.
“Right or wrong, India’s Pakistan policy has always been driven by the gut instincts of the prime ministers rather than the carefully crafted approaches by the diplomatists,” Mohan wrote on Tuesday in The Indian Express.
“If the mood at Mohali turns out to be good, Dr. Singh and Gilani might help give the dialogue at the bureaucratic level a much needed boost,” he added. (ANI)
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