Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif seems to be using his thank-you tour, in which he is scheduled to visit four countries to express special thanks for the support they extended during the recent Pak-India standoff, for more tangible benefits. At least that is the impression he gave on the first leg of his trip, a visit to Iran, where he proffered the nation’s gratitude for the support that Iran extended in the crisis. He also took up Iran on its offer of mediation during the crisis, and said that Pakistan would welcome its playing a part in developing peace within the region. He also expressed his support for Iran developing a peaceful nuclear programme. Thus he expressed support for Iran against the USA, which has been accusing Iran of developing a nuclear weapon. Iran says that it is enriching uranium not to develop a nuclear weapon, but to use nuclear energy for power generation, reserving its petroleum for export. In an interview to the Iranian official new agency IRNA just ahead of his visit, he set a target of $10 billion in mutual trade, which would be more than a tripling of the present $3 billion. It remains to be seen if Mr Sharif says anything about trade in any of the three countries he will visit, which include Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Turkiye.
Iran has been going out of the Indian camp of late, with the planned development of Chabahar Port as a rival to Gwadar now in all sorts of trouble. One reason has been that India is drawing closer to the USA just as Iran is moving away from it. There is also a convergence in recent times between Iran and Russia, as well as between Turkiye and Russia. As Russo-Chinese ties grow warmer, Pakistan finds itself more at ease because of Turkiye and Iran.
As BJP loudmouths have been sounding off about Turkiye, it is only fitting that Pakistan thank it. It should not be forgotten that Indo- Turkish relations have been good, and the Indian closeness to the USA is an incentive for Turkiye to grow closer. It is because of this that BJP blowhards have been particularly upset, to the extent of demanding a travel ban, so that Indians stop supporting the Turkish tourism industry, which is presently the leading Indian tourism destination.
