Manmohan Singh

New Delhi, June 10: Manmohan Singh’s presence at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) ahead of the first BRIC summit in Russia next week could trigger the signal that Delhi recognises global multi-polarity and will conduct its international affairs reaching beyond the so-called strategic umbrella of the US.

It could also send out the message that given the right assurances on containing the export of terror, it is willing to talk to Pakistan.

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari too will be present at Yekaterinburg in Russia, where the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) summit is to be held.

Although no bilaterals are scheduled, there is a possibility the Indian Prime Minister and Zardari could meet on the sidelines of the SCO. While Islamabad has been seeking resumption of dialogue, India has hitherto kept the door closed, maintaining that Pakistan must first punish those it considers guilty of plotting the Mumbai terror attack.

However, in recent weeks, there has been a growing murmur in Delhi about the need to resume dialogue, if only as a means to address the “export of terror” issue. Singh’s statement in Parliament, which spoke of reaching more than halfway to Pakistan and did not rigidly link talks to the fallout of Mumbai, is being seen as a subtle shift towards the negotiating table.

Sources in the government, though, are cautioning against “jumping the gun” to assume Yekaterinburg will see some melting of sub-continental ice. “The Pakistani leadership has to concretely demonstrate it is willing to come out of its denial on the export of terror to India and act, something that has not happened so far,” a source said.

But even minus the prospect of initiating an Indo-Pak thaw, attending the SCO is being viewed as significant. The SCO is a security-based grouping comprising Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and India had shown little inclination to participate in the past because it only had observer status.

However, Delhi has now been assured that it will be admitted to closed-door meetings of the SCO and have a role in its deliberations. Pakistan, Afghanistan and Mongolia too have observer status at the SCO.

Since the passage of the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal, an impression has gone around that Delhi is keen on strengthening its strategic alliance with the US, even if that appeared to run against India’s traditional foreign policy. India’s vote against Iran at the IAEA was often cited as an example of this new “tilt” towards the US.

However, since the nuclear deal went through, India has sent out signals “correcting” that impression; it moved swiftly, for instance, to sign nuclear civil energy deals with France and Russia ahead of the US.