Being billed as another diplomatic triumph for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who himself broke the news to the media via Twitter, President Barack Obama’s visit to New Delhi in January constitutes one more milestone in the evolution of a closer relationship between America and India.

Even though many other leaders, including those from Pakistan, China and the P-5, have been guests at India’s Republic Day celebrations, it is for the first time that an American president has been invited to the Jan 26 festivities.

Read: Obama informs Sharif about Delhi visit

For Mr Obama, this will be his second visit to India, and a second meeting with Mr Modi some four months after the bonhomie witnessed during the Indian prime minister’s visit to the US for the annual UN General Assembly meeting.

The fact that the Republican sweep of the mid-term elections has virtually turned Mr Obama into a lame-duck president shouldn’t serve to diminish the visit’s importance.

All said and done, an American president will be there in New Delhi, and that should serve Mr Modi in good stead for the next five years, because it is he who will be dealing with the next American administration, Democrat or Republican.

The prime ministers of Pakistan and India will be there in Kathmandu soon for the 18th Saarc summit, but — going by the recent tensions between the two countries — a one-on-one meeting between the leaders does not seem likely.

Even if there is a formal get-together for record’s sake, only an optimist would expect a breakthrough leading to a resumption of the peace process at this stage.

More important, we do not know whether guns will fall silent along the Line of Control and Working Boundary when Mr Obama and Mr Modi meet.

But irrespective of the situation in India-held Kashmir and the outcome of the Saarc summit, Mr Obama should use his presence in New Delhi to convince India to give up its veto on a resumption of the peace process that has been suspended since the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

This veto precedes Mr Modi’s assumption of power.

The phone call Mr Obama made to Nawaz Sharif was a gesture, and no more.

Meanwhile, Pakistan will consider Mr Obama’s New Delhi visit fruitful if he breaks the ice and helps start the peace process, which will remain static until the leaders of the two countries, especially India, themselves show the will to pursue the path of amity.

Published in Dawn, November 23th , 2014