It is a tale of two summits, spanning 16 years and tenures of two successive Prime Ministers of India. Sharm El-Shaikh, the Egyptian seaside resort that had often served as a venue for international meets, hosted a bilateral India-Pakistan summit on July 16, 2009, which saw the then Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh, cut a sorry figure as his Pakistan counterpart, Yusuf Raza Gilani, walked away with a trophy.
Earlier this week, Sharm El-Shaikh was the venue as US President Donald Trump negotiated a peace deal between Israel and Hamas. At Trump's bidding, Egypt's President, Abdel Fateh el-Sisi, extended invites to a potpourri of international personages. The occasion was designed to underscore the US President's dominance. Some 25 heads of government and international bodies, including the United Nations, the European Commission and the Arab League, provided the backdrop for Trump's "triumph".
India was among the invitees, but its presence was not noticed - though it found mention in dispatches all the same. Actually, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had politely declined Trump and el-Sisi's joint invite, issued with less than 48 hours' notice, citing prior engagements. Instead, he nominated India's Minister of State for External Affairs, Kirti Vardhan Singh, as his special representative. The Indian junior minister's one-on-one photograph with Trump, with the US President raising a thumb in celebration, chronicled the event.
Meloni's Reaction Said It All
Apart from Trump, the limelight was stolen by Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Italy's Giorgia Meloni, whose expression as she reacted to Sharif's flattery of Trump, went viral. So did her reaction to Trump's somewhat sexist reference to her as a 'very beautiful woman'.
Unlike his predecessor Gilani 16 years ago, Sharif did not enjoy his moment of glory. He inflicted self-induced ridicule on himself and axiomatically on the people of Pakistan by his sycophancy. After referring to Pakistan's Army Chief Asif Munir as his "favourite Field Marshall", Trump beckoned Sharif, who had been standing right behind him, to take the microphone.
What Sharif did thereafter was unprecedented. "I again would like to nominate the great President for the Nobel Peace Prize. He is a wonderful candidate. I salute the President for his exemplary leadership," he said. Meloni, standing between Trump and Sharif, looked on wide-eyed, covering her mouth in palpable disbelief. The other worthies remained stoic.
The Nobel Peace Prize is given by the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo from the proceeds of an endowment bestowed by Alfred Bernhard Nobel, a Swedish chemist who invented dynamite. Pakistan has been endorsing Trump for the past few months. However, the 2025 honour eluded Trump, perhaps because his nominations poured in after the cutoff date. Nonetheless, Sharif seems to now have flagged off his bid for 2026.
Modi's Statesmanship vs Sharif's Flattery
By opting out of Sharm el-Shaikh, where he would have been confronted by Trump's mercurial behaviour and Sharif's obsequiousness towards his 'Master', Narendra Modi has displayed his astute statesmanship. With volatile trade negotiations with the US still under way, it is best to let the respective teams carry on with the acclivous task.
Both Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman have avoided going to US shores to attend a meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the world economic monitor's recent further elevation of India's GDP target notwithstanding. With MoS Kiriti Vardhan Singh's presence, India has endorsed Trump's Gaza peace plan without compromising its dignity.
This is in sharp relief to the Pakistan leadership's bootlicking stance, even as their country witnessed massive unrest on the street over the Gaza peace plan. It just goes on to show how out of sync the Pakistani government is with the man or the woman on the street.
When Pakistan Took The Trophy
The Sharm el-Shaikh summit in 2009 took place in the backdrop of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks of 2008, when terrorists from Pakistan mercilessly killed 166 Indians in the city. The feeble reaction of the Manmohan Singh government in its aftermath has been highlighted in the recent statements made by former Home Minister P. Chidambaram, who said that unlike the Modi regime, which strikes deep inside Pakistan every time the latter targets India, the Manmohan Singh government had merely debated options and feebly succumbed to pressure from Washington to forsake its retaliatory options.
At Sharm el-Shaikh in 2009, Manmohan Singh and Yusuf Raza Gilani signed a joint statement delinking composite dialogue from Pakistan's action on terror. The statement also included a reference to Balachistan, the first-such mention in an India-Pakistan joint statement. It departed from India's post-26/11 stand that dialogue was possible only after Pakistan acted against the terrorists involved in the 26/11 carnage.
Instead of cornering Pakistan, India in 2009 allowed Pakistan to slip in their canard that the popular movement of the mineral-rich Balachistan was being sponsored by India. Balochistan, which had a special dispensation under British rule - like India's Princely states - had been forcefully annexed from the Shah of Kalat by the Mohammad Ali Jinnah regime. Kalat was inclined towards joining the Indian Union instead.
That shame of Sharm El-Shaikh was mentioned by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in Parliament this year post-Operation Sindoor. In 2009, the Opposition, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Sushma Swaraj (later External Affairs Minister in the first Modi cabinet) had firmly said that even the "waters of the seven oceans cannot wipe out the shame" of the Sharm el-Shaikh declaration signed between Manmohan Singh and Gilani.
This week, Modi was not present at Sharm el-Shaikh but was mentioned in despatches all the same. "India is a great country with a great friend of mine at the top and he has just done a fantastic job", declared Trump in his speech, adding, "I think India and Pakistan are going to live very nicely together", as he turned back to look at Sharif, with the latter proffering a servile nod.
Meanwhile, New Delhi hosted Afghanistan's Talib Foreign Minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, and engaged in pragmatic diplomacy, balancing humanitarian outreach and security interests with a regime it fiercely disagrees with. Given China's growing influence in Kabul and the acrimony between Afghanistan regime and Pakistan, this walking on the sword's edge outreach showed utilitarianism in international relations.
And this is how Modi's India of 2025 is decidedly different from Manmohan Singh's India of 2009.
((The author is a retired editor and public affairs commentator)
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author
