Within India, the image of the United Front government in New Delhi might have begun to tarnish after an all-too-brief honeymoon with the media. But, were a poll to be conducted in the surrounding countries, Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda´s coalition would emerge with flying colours.
No sooner had Mr Deve Gowda assumed office in June, than there was a message of congratulations from across the border in Pakistan. Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto offered to resume high-level bilateral talks that had broken off acrimoniously in early 1994. (Earlier, when the Bharatiya Janata Party held power in New Delhi for all of two weeks, there had been deafening silence from Islamabad.)
Within 24 hours, the Indian side responded positively to the overture and despite some minor hiccups, the talks are very much on the anvil. Significantly, the two countries have also decided to include Kashmir in the talks.
Pakistan has also accorded India the Most Favoured Nation status and allowed the import of key Indian goods that had hitherto been banned. This follows Islamabad´s initialling of the South Asian Preferential Trade Agreement. For its part, India had already allowed Pakistan access to its more than 900 million-strong market.