AA Edit | Canada Reset, Trump Talk: Key Modi G-7 Takeaways

The G7 meeting may not have panned out too well for the world’s richest nations with the US President Donald Trump having to cut short his visit to the Canadian Rockies to fly back to a situation room in the White House in connection with the Israel-Iran war. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s long haul to Canada’s west, however, yielded two very positive developments for India.

The first was the resetting of ties with Canada that leaves all the rancour and acrimony of Justin Trudeau’s time well behind. Prime Minister Carney’s meeting with Mr Modi appears to have gone off swimmingly if the restoration of diplomatic ties with the appointment of high commissioners is any indication. It is forward into free, frank and fair times for both nations as the Hardeep Singh Nijjar killing gets put in its place as a criminal probe in which India might cooperate.

The second was the candid conversation Mr Modi had with Donald Trump over the phone in which the Indian Prime Minister firmly told Trump that there were no mediation talks with the US during the India-Pakistan conflict in May. Pakistan sought a ceasefire through formal military channels and India agreed. If Pakistan had listened to Trump advice on the matter, it was not mediation but pragmatism that may have led to using the DGMO route.

What was stressed in the Modi-Trump talk was an assertion of the irreversible position India has held in over 80 years that there will be no third-party intervention or influence in any bilateral issue with Pakistan. This matter of Trump 's boast of stopping a nuclear war may have made waves, but this was possible because there is reality and then there is an alternate reality that Trump has been known to believe in on various matters, including his “victory” in the 2020 presidential elections.

Pakistan was known for its dancing to the tunes of the United States for decades and getting moral support and billions in aid in return. But India’s strategic autonomy has never been sacrificed to allow any entity, be it the UN, the UK, the US or the EU to have a say in the so-called Kashmir issue or any other bilateral matter with Pakistan. It is not India’s business if the Pakistan general who sought a ceasefire is being feted with a lunch at the White House.

In a long day, Mr Modi may have prioritised the restoration of ties with Canada that also go back a long way and were cordial for decades before Justin Trudeau found a way to hang on to power in Ottawa by courting a party sympathetic to “Khalistan” which ended disastrously for Mr Trudeau and the New Democratic Party then headed by Jagmeet Singh.

The strength of face-to-face meetings may have been stressed once again as Mr Modi added to the ongoing Indian diplomatic offensive by carrying the tidings on how the ongoing Operation Sindoor went in the phase in which India dominated the military exchanges. Several bilateral meetings with leaders of nations at the summit may have helped clear the air over what happened from May 7 to 10, besides mention of initiatives regarding trade deals that have become acutely necessary in the wake of tariffs threatened by the United States.