Enhanced,enduring

British prime ministers possess a flair for naming their governments bilateral ties and David Cameron has chosen to speak of an enhanced and enduring relationship with India. As he well might. Leading the largest prime ministerial delegation to India since 1947,on what he called a jobs mission to rustle up business for British industry,Cameron in the most high-voltage manner righted the tenor of India-British engagement. In comments that predictably drew protests from Islamabad and unexpectedly also ruffled the London intelligentsia and opposition,he warned Pakistan on promoting terror in any way in India,in Afghanistan or anywhere else in the world. To his credit,his candour endured in engagements beyond Bangalore,where the remarks were first made. He stuck by them in New Delhi. And in the sense that Cameron got India interested simply by understanding its concerns,the visit can be termed British diplomacys George W. Bush moment.

Fact-checked any which way,there would appear to be nothing exceptionable in Camerons statements on Pakistan. He said he wanted to see a strong,steady,democratic Pakistan,but that equally it could not be allowed to look both ways on promoting terrorism. The barrage of criticism hes attracted back home reveals the clutter of misrepresentation he has cut through. Shadow Foreign Secretary,and globetrotter-in-chief in Gordon Browns government,David Miliband has seized upon Camerons words. Asking him to mind the difference between straight-talking and being a loud mouth,Miliband holds that Cameron tells half the story and misses the death toll in Pakistan on account of terrorism. It is not just that the British refusal to separate terrorism against Pakistan from the terrorism encouraged by its establishment has always belied the facts. But,as exemplified by Milibands own dealings as foreign secretary,the British elites condescending attitude towards India has manifested in a certain negativity. The urge to patronise,as it were,has been fed by lectures on how India should rectify itself,never mind the reality. This background explains the scant build-up in this country to Camerons visit and then the spontaneous appreciation of his refreshing candour.

However,countries do not reorient foreign relations for the fleeting thrills of popular appreciation they do it on the basis of a reading of the national interest. Terrorism with roots in Pakistan is a worry for Britain,as Brown too publicly acknowledged. Stating it as it is on Pakistan looking both ways on terrorism is a meaningful start not just in rooting Indo-British ties in concrete realities. It can also be the start for purposeful diplomacy to the good of India,Britain and Pakistan.