As the cricket-crazy subcontinent wait excitedly for the World Cup to start in Australia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi picked up the threads of his “SAARC initiative” with a twist of cricket diplomacy on Friday by calling up his counterparts of those nations in the grouping which are playing the tournament.

Of much import is the fact that Mr. Modi renewed political contacts with Pakistan by calling up Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. With the call coming ahead of the World Cup match between India and Pakistan in Adelaide on Sunday, Mr. Modi announced that he would send Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar to Islamabad shortly, the first such move since foreign secretary-level talks were cancelled last July.

A meeting between Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit and Mr. Jaishankar preceded the phone call, sources told The Hindu. Pakistan had been maintaining that India must take the first step to “initiate talks” since New Delhi had cancelled them.

According to Pakistani government sources, Mr. Sharif said “Pakistan will respond positively as engagement is in our mutual interest.”

In Colombo, official sources said President Maithripala Sirisena was “pleased” with Mr. Modi’s call. Reciprocating good wishes to the Indian team in the World Cup, Mr. Sirisena reportedly told Mr. Modi: “Those who follow cricket closely tend to get the nuances in politics too.”

With his Bangladeshi counterpart, Sheikh Hasina, Mr. Modi exchanged best wishes for their World Cup teams. Mr. Modi and Ms. Hasina discussed bilateral issues. Mr. Modi spoke to Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani also. He told the three leaders that Mr. Jaishankar would visit their countries soon on what he called a “SAARC Yatra.”

“Cricket is a metaphor for connectivity at the people-to-people level. Speaking to SAARC leaders is part of the Prime Minister’s multi-layered diplomacy,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said.

Source: TH