Pakistan's defacto Foreign Minister, Sartaj Aziz, met his Indian counter part, Sushma Swaraj, at the 37th Council of SAARC Ministers Meeting in Nepal and delivered formal invitation from PM Nawaz for Narendra Modi to attend the 19th SAARC Summit being held in Pakistan in Nov 2016. Apparently Modi has accepted and will attend.
However India has a history of backing out in the last moment. Underlying this behavior is a well thought out paradigm of Indian Foreign Policy that aims to isolate Pakistan from regional and international integration. Nawaz Govt on the other hand is desperate to seek Indian engagement. Partly it is the pressure from the US and the west but partly it is PM Nawaz's internal compulsions where he thinks that engaging India gives him political space against his own military. Unfortunately these international and domestic compulsions force Nawaz Govt on a path of endless 'Appeasement' but Appeasement never works for states. Will PM Nawaz be able to ever succeed in meaningful or substantial engagement with India? Will his policies help Pakistan? An interesting discussion between Moeed Pirzada & Gen. Shoaib Amjad.