Why hasn't India validated the Indonesian president as the chief guest for the Republic day celebration, and how is it connected to Pakistan?
Presidents of Indonesia Joko Widodo attended the Republic Day parades which were held in India back in the year 2018, which was the last time a President from Indonesia attended such an event.
For India, the selection process of chief guests for the republic day celebrations is of utmost importance and hence it requires a lot of diplomacy. It starts several months in advance with the final option being picked out a few weeks before the actual event where India celebrates the adoption of its constitution as a democratic nation.
The selection of the chic guest for Republic day on 2025 is still under process, however, it is being reported that the Indonesian president, Prabowo Subianto is upper most in the options list. There appears to be confusion in the specifics about when the announcement will be made since the Republic day coinciding with the Indonesian president’s visit is only two weeks away.
Some reports are also suggesting that President Prabowo plans to cover Pakistan during his visit to India but New Delhi has strongly advised against it. Such advice is common as India does not want its relations with Pakistan to intervene with its relations with other countries.
To observe India’s Republic Day, Prabowo has been invited to Pakistan.
According to a report published in the Business Recorder, which has close links with Pakistan, Prawobo is supposed to start a three day visit to Pakistan in January.
As per the given article, India and Pakistan relationships have gone sore in previous years. Barack Obama, while visiting New Delhi in 2010 cancelled his plan to stop in Islamabad due to the sensitivity that India faces. Also granted Indonesia Close ties with India instead of Pakistan when to visit India on Republic Day. This diplomatic tactic was conducted alongside the fact that India strengthened its hold over a terrorist organization planning to attack an Indian facility which put a great strain over India-Pakistan relations. If you were to argue about this case you would find the words of Modi and Obama feeling better on this topic.
Obama reportedly stated that “I wouldn’t want to get involved in that debate on who stopped me, what happened, etc. There are some important geostrategic issues that need to be considered” which resonates well with the fact that advocating over the ties between Indonesia and Pakistan would allow a disturbance over the diplomatic ties that India has managed to build.
Even after Obama’s statement in 2010, India did not remove the restrictions placed which kept the President of Indonesia from combining his visit of India with that of Pakistan. The only reason as to why the India-Pakistan relations have gone south was due to Islamabad taking support for cross border terrorism or so India accuses.
In like manner, in February 2019, the Crown Price of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman decided to dehyphenate his trip to Islamabad by making a brief stop in Dubai on his way to Pakistan. He explain his reason for not directly embarking to Pakistan per se.
India issues diplomatic protest to Indonesia
As per The Times of India, New Delhi has raised concerns with Jakarta in a diplomatic way to appeal to Indonesian President Prabowo Mak Sandiaga Subianto to disembark in Islamabad after attending Indian Republic Day celebrations.
The Indian government considers this as a negative image of the country as it undermines its position of being in the group of nations who do not want to interact with the country that uses terrorism as a weapon of foreign strategy, Prabowo making a fly past the Republic Day parade to Pakistan.
A report by Deccan Herald quoting a source in New Delhi said that Indian and Indonesian officials are consulting over Prabowo’s visit.
The last time Indonesia sent its first Manitsar Democratic Party president to India as the special honorary guest together with other 10 Southeast Asian heads of state during the Indian Republic Day in 2018. It was not that interesting that day that Widodo sauntered over to Islamabad after meeting some of the ten Southeast Asian heads of state in New Delhi but this time he was in New Delhi as a joint chief guest to celebrate 25 years of ASEAN engagement.