Cornerstones of Indian foreign policy

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif held a meeting with Indian Prime Minister in Ufa, Russia, on Friday. While not much was expected from the meeting, it was nevertheless widely discussed in both countries. According to reports, Modi will travel to Islamabad for the 2016 summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc).
It is interesting to study the pillars on which the Indian foreign policy is based towards its neighbours, especially Pakistan. Over the years, India has gone from the founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement, to joining the Soviet bloc and then abandoning Russia and embracing whole heartedly the United States.
As far as Pakistan is concerned, the Indian foreign policy has always been aggressive, antagonistic and hostile. So what are the major cornerstones of Indian policy towards Pakistan? The Indians have tried to depict Pakistan as the mentor of all terrorist activities not only in the region but also throughout the world. The Indian police and law enforcement agencies blame Pakistani intelligence for creating unrest in India. The fact is that it is the Indian state policies that are causing unrest in the Indian heartland and forcing people to confront the state. Pakistan or its agencies have no role in this regard.
At the same time, Indian diplomats have been going around, claiming that the Pakistani state and some militant outfits which they claim have Islamabad’s support are involved in terrorist activities around the world.
The Indians also have a policy to brush under the carpet the Kashmir issue. They seek to sideline the lingering issue and try to tell the world that it is a bilateral matter and of little significance. Nevertheless, the Kashmir issue has led to three Indo-Pak wars.
Moreover, the Indian foreign policy seeks to deny Pakistan conventional weapons for its legitimate defence. While Pakistan does not condemn arms purchases by India, which are at a massive scale and in excess to its requirements, New Delhi keeps on harping on the same tune in order to deny Pakistan all sorts of conventional weapons.
Another cornerstone of the Indian foreign policy is to gain a foothold in Afghanistan and destabilise Pakistan from the west. However, despite investing more than a billion dollars in the war-torn country, India has been unable to achieve this goal. Then come the proxies that India is using to destabilise Pakistan’s Balochistan province.
There have been other notable features of India’s foreign policy under Modi. These include Act East policy, neighbourhood first policy, Indian Ocean outreach, Project Mausam, Forum for India-Pacific Islands cooperation, fast-track diplomacy and para diplomacy.
As things stand today, the Indian leadership under Narendra Modi does not seem inclined to change its outlook and resolve issues that have stalled progress in Pak-India relations.