To ensure the visit runs smoothly, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has formed a committee led by Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal. The committee is tasked with finalizing all proposals and actions related to the Indonesian president’s visit to the country.
India invites countries with strong diplomatic relations
India typically invites only those countries with which it shares strong diplomatic relations for its Republic Day celebrations. The Indian government is reportedly trying to avoid the optics of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto combining his visit to India with a trip to Pakistan.
Relations between India and Pakistan have significantly deteriorated in recent years, primarily due to Islamabad’s alleged support for cross-border terrorism. The two nations came close to military confrontation in 2019 after India conducted airstrikes on a terrorist training facility in Pakistan’s Balakot, in retaliation for a terrorist attack on Indian security forces in Jammu and Kashmir.
In 2010, former U.S. President Barack Obama canceled his plan to make a stopover in Islamabad while visiting New Delhi, after being briefed on India’s sensitivities regarding the matter.
Similarly, in February 2019, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman chose to de-hyphenate his visit to Islamabad by making a brief stop in Dubai instead.
India raises issue with Indonesia
According to The Times of India, New Delhi has raised concerns diplomatically with Jakarta, attempting to discourage Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto from traveling directly to Islamabad after attending India’s Republic Day celebrations.
The Indian government perceives Prabowo’s direct flight to Pakistan following the Republic Day parade as a negative image, undermining its stance of not engaging with a nation that uses terrorism as a foreign policy tool.
A report by Deccan Herald, citing a source in New Delhi, mentioned ongoing discussions between Indian and Indonesian officials regarding Prabowo’s itinerary.
The last time an Indonesian president attended India’s Republic Day celebrations was in 2018, when then-President Joko Widodo was the chief guest. Interestingly, Widodo flew directly to Islamabad from New Delhi, but on that occasion, he was one of ten Southeast Asian leaders invited as joint chief guests, as part of a celebration marking 25 years of engagement with the ASEAN bloc.
