Even Pakistanis accept Narendra Modi is a star

Islamabad: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is an astute politician with the ability to outsmart rivals and he is aiming for the "political and military dominance of India", said a Pakistani daily that noted he was “received like a star” in the US.

An editorial in The Nation on Monday said that everyone loves a good old showdown between politicians - but in the case of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif versus his Indian counterpart Modi, "we have our backs to the wall".

"While Modi is received like a star is attending events and parties, PM Sharif only has the UN platform to make an impact. The odds are stacked against Pakistan," said the daily.

Both Nawaz and Modi are in New York for the Sustainable Development Summit hosted by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, where the new and ambitious post-2015 development agenda will be adopted.

"However, both parties have made it clear that there will be no bilateral meeting between them."

The daily said that Modi will not only speak to Silicon Valley’s biggest executives during his two-day visit to the US tech hub, but will also take questions from some of Facebook Inc’s 1.5 billion users at a Town Hall.

He is the first Indian leader to visit the US West Coast in more than 30 years. He also attended a dinner with 350 business leaders where Indian-born CEOs of Microsoft Corp, Google Inc and Adobe Systems Inc moderated a panel.

He has also sought to encourage some Indians who have thrived around Silicon Valley to bring their knowledge back home.

"What is Nawaz Sharif doing?, the daily asked.

"Modi has been focused on connecting with the Indian diaspora in the US, while Nawaz Sharif was considering speaking to the US President in Urdu, to give our national ego a boost. It almost sounds like a joke. Increasingly, Pakistan has nothing to offer to the West, including personality and charisma," it added.

The editorial stressed that Pakistan must watch Modi’s “gait and gestures”.

“Modi is an astute politician, who has the ability to outsmart rivals with an amazing sense of timing. We on the other hand, are stuck with archaic, redundant policies of following the same deadbeat formula of ‘successes’,” it said.

Calling for a drastic improvement of the Pakistani image in the West, the daily said: “The US is helping India get armed to the hilt and soon we will lose our only advantage- our military strength. And that is Modi’s aim - the political and military dominance of India. He has a plan? Do we?”