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No announcements are in yet for the Singh-Sharif meeting, although speculation has been rife since the Pakistan prime minister's special envoy Shahryar Khan came to Delhi to pay his respects a fortnight ago. Sharif is likely to speak at the UNGA on September 24, after nearly 15 years.
Meanwhile, there is some movement on the India-Pakistan front. A team of Indian officials that recently visited Lahore to talk to Pakistan's energy ministry on the possibility of reviving the sale of 500 Mw of electricity from Punjab to Pakistani Punjab was received with considerable hospitality and interest.
It is said that Pakistan, which is struggling with a daily 18-hour loadshedding, offered to connect the southern part of Lahore to the Indian electricity grid. The Indian team is believed to have told its Pakistani interlocutors that it was not part of its mandate to discuss this offer, and it is more than likely that this discussion will now take place between Sharif and Singh when they meet in New York.
Clearly, Sharif is gambling on the fact of rising public anger inside the country at the continuously deteriorating economic situation, which will allow him to offer out-of-the-box solutions, including from Pakistan's traditional enemy, India.
Consider the breathtaking nature of the Pakistani suggestion: To connect the Punjab electricity grid to a town in Pakistan's Punjab will be to reverse nearly seven decades of animosity that has divided the two peoples. For the first time since 1947, the two grids will be joined together, if only very partially.
It is also the perfect win-win solution for both countries, as Pakistan has already said it will buy the 500 Mw of power that is on offer from India. The proximity factor means that cost per unit is much less than what Pakistan pays to import oil from its Islamic brotherly nations.
On the energy front, India has already offered to build a pipeline from Bathinda to Lahore, while Pakistan is hoping that it can persuade India to be part of the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline.
Greater economic contact between India and Pakistan may be the need of the hour, but political wisdom also lies in the fact that Singh seeks clarity on the cases that are being tried against the accused in the 2008 Mumbai attacks. A Singh- Sharif meeting cannot be limited to the pursuit of greater economic interaction, especially in an election year. It must be overlaid with political content.
With Shahryar Khan having already invited the PM to visit Pakistan, Pakistani officials said they would like the political and economic dialogue restored sooner than later. However, there is also some nervousness in the new Nawaz Sharif government that an official dialogue will be hijacked by Indian officialdom and get bogged down by the minutiae of small, reciprocal actions.
The Pakistanis say they are very keen that Nawaz Sharif meet Manmohan Singh on the margins of the UNGA in September and are pushing hard for such a meeting. It is believed that the PM is keen too. Over the next few weeks, both sides are expected to work hard to put the meat on such a likely encounter.
