Indian diplomacy is no stranger to simultaneous crises in the neighbourhood but South Block’s professional skills will be tested this week as it copes with the latest political turn in two of the Subcontinent’s great cities—Dhaka in the east and Lahore in the west.

The mutiny at the headquarters of a paramilitary force in Dhaka and the ouster of the Sharif brothers from power in Lahore are entirely unconnected; together, though, they reveal the enduring political fragility of Bangladesh and Pakistan, more than six decades after they were carved out of India.

Our justified anger at cross-border terrorism tends to cloud our ability to work the internal fissures within Pakistan and Bangladesh. It has been tempting to treat these very complex neighbours as hostile black boxes. Large democracies like India, in any case, find it difficult to do ‘nuance’.

But the latest crises in Dhaka and Lahore are too interesting to be wasted. The South Block should not allow either the excuse of impending Indian general elections or the pretence of ‘non-intervention’ in the internal affairs of our neighbours to come in the way of a proactive policy.

For the first time in decades, India’s interests in nudging our two special neighbours towards political moderation, economic modernisation, and regional integration are in tune with those of the international community. That should make it easier for New Delhi to address the many crises in the neighbourhood involving civil-military relations, fratricidal tendencies among the democratic forces, and tensions between different security agencies.

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