NAWAZ Sharif’s decision to accept the Indian invitation for the oath-taking ceremony of Prime Minister-elect Narendra Modi on Monday makes eminent sense. It shows the Pakistani prime minister’s courage in the face of stiff opposition from some right-wing religious parties.

A negative decision, especially when all other Saarc heads of government have been invited, would have looked odd and may have blocked chances, howsoever remote, of a revival of the peace process. That Islamabad didn’t jump at the invitation and took its time to respond is understandable. Mr Modi’s record as Gujarat’s chief minister is controversial, and his communal bellicosity laced with anti-Pakistan rhetoric left little room for optimism.

As chief minister, he was responsible for the anti-Muslim pogroms in 2002 and was roundly condemned not only by rights organisations worldwide but by sections of India’s own media. How he behaves now as India’s prime minister, especially when he does not need other parties’ support to form the government, is of crucial importance for the future of peace in South Asia. Whether the landslide win gives him the strength to take on the hardliners in his party and reach out to Pakistan remains to be seen.

Let us note that the breakthrough in Pakistan’s relations with India came twice when Mr Modi’s party, the BJP, was in power, though it was led by a man whose understanding of the political culture in the subcontinent was clearly superior to Mr Modi’s. In 1999, Atal Behari Vajpayee came to Pakistan during Mr Sharif’s second tenure as prime minister and, again during Gen Pervez Musharraf’s regime, he was in Islamabad for a Saarc summit.

The visit led to the ‘composite dialogue’, which unfortunately fell victim to the Mumbai attacks in 2008. Nevertheless, the fact that a BJP government should have attempted to effect a thaw in relations with Pakistan is significant. Such an opportunity exists again, and by taking a bold decision Mr Sharif has denied an opportunity to the hawks in Indian politics and media to orchestrate a new anti-Pakistan chorus. Adviser Tariq Fatemi may appear overly optimistic when he says the visit could open a new chapter in Pakistan’s relations with India, but let us hope that Mr Modi, too, thinks that way.

Here are two contrasting phenomena: Manmohan Singh didn’t utilise Asif Ali Zardari’s offer; Mr Sharif has accepted Mr Modi’s. This round goes to Pakistan. The ball is now in Mr Modi’s court. He should respond with concrete gestures, the least of which could be a one-to-one meeting with Mr Sharif during his brief stay in the Indian capital.

Mr Sharif’s decision, coming in the wake of Raheel Sharif’s meeting with Shahbaz Sharif, obviously shows a consensus of sorts on the issue: it is unlikely the prime minister would have accepted the Indian invitation unless the security establishment was on board.

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2014