Tridivesh Singh Maini, New Delhi

At a time when ties between India and Pakistan seem to be improving, the deputy chief minister of the Indian state of Punjab, Sukhbir Singh Badal, visited the Punjab province of Pakistan from 5–9 November.

Sukhbir’s visit was significant, as any interaction between the two Punjabs, which share a border, is watched with immense interest.

It is a long time since a senior politician from Indian Punjab crossed the Radcliffe line into Pakistani Punjab. From 2004–06 interactions picked up and there were official visits by the then chief ministers of both Punjabs. Since then, there has been less interaction. In April this year, the Pakistani Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif crossed over to the Indian side for the inauguration of the integrated check post, but that was only for a few hours. But Sukhbir is the first senior leader from the Akali Party to visit Pakistan in an official capacity.

Sukhbir’s visit was aimed at enhancing economic linkages between the two Punjabs and giving a fillip to people-to-people contact between the two provinces. It was only recently, that Sukhbir wrote to India’s home minister regarding the prospect of opening up of a Pakistan consulate at the border town of Amritsar, which would make it easier for businessmen and pilgrims from Indian Punjab to visit Pakistan. He has also been pushing for more goods trade to be allowed between the two provinces.

Over the course of his visit, Sukhbir took up some important economic issues. During his lunch with Sharif on 6 November, he spoke about the need to make the borders porous, as in the European Union. Sukhbir also discussed the idea of importing surplus power to Pakistan during the course of his meeting with Sharif, something which has previously been discussed by central governments of both countries.

On 6 November, he also attended a Pakistan–India business roundtable, organised by the Punjab Board of Investment and Trade at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat. This event had two important outcomes. First, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and the Indian PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry to boost trade ties. Second, it was decided that a joint business council should be set up between the two Punjabs. According to the proposal, each region will be represented by 10 members, who are to include politicians, bureaucrats and industrialists.

The Indian Punjab Deputy Chief Minister also attended some sporting events. He attended the final of the Asia Cup (Kabaddi) on 5 November, and jointly inaugurated the Punjab Youth Festival and Indo–Pak Dosti (Friendship Cup) for the disabled with Shahbaz Sharif. Shahbaz Sharif will also visit India for the third Kabaddi World Cup in India, in December. Kabaddi is a traditional South Asian game, especially popular in both Punjabs. Both Sharif and Badal emphasised on the need for more sporting interactions between the Punjabs, and the need for traditional sports such as Kabaddi. Sukhbir, during the course of his deliberations with Shahbaz Sharif, also reiterated the necessity of a Pakistani consulate at Amritsar, so that Sikh pilgrims do not have to go all the way to Delhi for securing a visa. Apart from this, he discussed the idea of a Sikh religious circuit in Pakistan, so that Sikh pilgrims can visit more Sikh shrines in that country in a less tedious manner.

While the issues raised by the deputy chief minister have been taken up on earlier occasions as well, his visit is important for several reasons.

First, the two Punjabs have been at the forefront of the thaw between India and Pakistan. In the last year or so, the respective business communities of Lahore and Amritsar have been pushing their respective governments to ease the visa regime and increase trade undertaken over the land route. Trade figures through the Attari–Wagahroute, especially since the improvement of trade facilities due to the integrated check post in April, reflect this. Exports from India to Pakistan for the period April–June 2012 were Rs 190 crore (US$34.5 million), compared to Rs 92 crore (US$16.7 million) during the corresponding period in 2011. Similarly, exports surpassed Rs 350 crore (US$63.7 million) during the first quarter of the current financial year, while during the corresponding period of the previous financial year they were a little over Rs 250 crore (US$45.5 million). If trade linkages continue to build up, this could help change the mindset in Pakistani Punjab, which has traditionally been considered anti-India. There are signs that this is already occurring; over the past year or so the political class of the province has increasingly appeared to support closer ties with India.

Second, the visit of Sukhbir shows an emerging consensus in both countries on the need for better relations. Neither Sukhbir nor Sharif, the younger brother of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, is part of the ruling alliance in their respective country. Both oppose the central governments on a majority of issues, but have backed their capitals in their move toward better India–Pakistan ties.

Third, it is time that the Indian People’s Party (BJP), the main opposition party, also came out in support of the government’s initiatives towards Islamabad, just as some of the smaller opposition parties have done. Perhaps it is time that a senior leader from the party paid a visit to Pakistan and reached out to political leaders from across the spectrum. It was, after all, BJP Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who first extended an olive branch to Pakistan in 1999. While Sharif repeated this point during Sukhbir’s Pakistan visit, the BJP has somehow erased Vajpayee’s contribution to the India–Pakistan peace process from its memory.

The visit clearly reiterates two further points. First, the two Punjabs have realised that, while emotion has a role to play in bilateral relations, ultimately economics will drive the relationship. Second, the benefits of good ties between the two Punjabs will be felt into other parts of both countries.

While the Indian prime minister’s dream of dinner in Kabul may seem unattainable, breakfast at Amritsar and lunch at Lahore may be on the cards if relations between the two Punjabs stay on course.

Tridivesh Singh Maini is a New Delhi-based columnist.