Hasina, Seychelles VP arrive; Pak not invited

Sandeep Dikshit

New Delhi, June 8

Seven leaders of neighbouring nations barring Pakistan, but including the currently estranged Maldives, will attend the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister-elect Narendra Modi on Sunday evening.

The leaders of Bangladesh and the Seychelles arrived on Saturday while the ones from Bhutan, Nepal, Mauritius, Nepal and Sri Lanka will land on Sunday. In a way, the invitations are a redux of Modi’s first swearing-in in 2014 when he had invited all SAARC’s leaders, including then Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif. Sources said no invite was sent to Islamabad and, even if it had been despatched, Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif could not have made it in view of his pre-scheduled and much-awaited ongoing visit to China.

The first to arrive at noon was Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina, who had anyway pencilled her plan to visit India for bilateral talks after the elections got over. Hasina is reciprocating the Indian Government’s complete backing to her during the Bangladesh general election, which helped neutralise pressure from the US to accommodate the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)-Jamat-e-Islami alliance.

Hasina will make another visit to India to discuss substantial issues, Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen told the media on Thursday night. “The current one is more of a ceremonial visit, marking a special occasion. We’ll work on a schedule later,” he said.

Vice-President of the Republic of Seychelles Ahmed Afif also arrived on Saturday. India has helped the Seychelles, located strategically in the western Indian Ocean, upgrade its administrative and communication infrastructure and is eyeing a naval foothold at one of its islands. Mauritius PM Pravind Jugnauth, Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu, Bhutan PM Tshering Tobgay, Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickramsinghe and Nepal PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ will also land in Delhi on Sunday.