Pakistan is believed to have the world’s fastest growing stockpile of nuclear weapons and US secretary of state John Kerry recently cited the example of the United States and Russia — which are working to reduce their arsenals — as he nudged Islamabad to cut the number of weapons and review its nuclear policy.

While India adopted a “no first use” policy soon after its nuclear blasts in 1998, Pakistan has not put in place a similar policy.

The world community has also expressed concern about Pakistan’s new policy of developing tactical or battlefield nuclear weapons to counter any possible military thrust by Indian forces. Obama said “one of the challenges” facing the US and Russia is that it is “very difficult to see huge reductions in our nuclear arsenal” unless both countries, as the largest possessors of nuclear weapons, are “prepared to lead the way”. Referring to the tensions arising from North Korea’s recent nuclear and missile tests, he said, “And we have to take a look at the Korean peninsula, because… North Korea is in a whole different category and poses the most immediate set of concerns for all of us, one that we are working internationally to focus on.”

Concerns about North Korea had figured in his trilateral meeting with the leaders of Japan and Korea and were “a major topic of discussion” with China’s President Xi Jinping, he added.

More needs to be done to prevent non-state actors from obtaining nuclear materials, world leaders said in a communiqué after the summit. The meet, attended by more than 50 world leaders, described the threat of nuclear and radiological terrorism as “one of the greatest challenges to international security”. The threat is “constantly evolving”, the communiqué said.

“We commit to fostering a peaceful and stable international environment by reducing the threat of nuclear terrorism and strengthening nuclear security,” it added. Obama also warned that terrorist groups such as al Qaeda and Islamic State will use nuclear weapons if they get hold of them.

Cross-border infiltration and terrorism have an unfortunate pattern of rearing their ugly heads whenever any high octane engagement is undertaken by India and Pakistan — the Lahore declaration under the earlier BJP government was followed by the Kargil War and PM Narendra Modi’s stopover in Lahore to attend PM Nawaz Sharif ’s birthday and his granddaughter’s wedding resulted in Pathankot. This government has conveniently chosen to emphasise optics over outcomes when it comes to its Pakistan policy. There is absolutely no framework for engagement with Pakistan and decisions seem to be made spontaneously and on a whim. Pakistan is yet another example of the BJP’s post-election U-turns and its penchant for managing headlines over managing policy. The same Modi who, before the elections, used to talk about showing “red eyes” and loudly condemned writing “love letters” to Pakistan, has today adopted the “pappi-jhappi” doctrine to win over Sharif. Sushma Swaraj, then leader of the Opposition and now external affairs minister, who used to forcefully demand suspension of talks with Pakistan until their “aatankvaad ke thikaane” were destroyed, now refers to the Indian PM’s surprise visit to Pakistan as “statesman-like”, tweeting “Padosi se aise hi rishte hone chahiyen”.

Even after coming to power, the U-turns and flip-flops haven’t ceased. The main conspirators of the Mumbai attacks have not been brought to justice, Pakistani diplomats have not stopped meeting the Hurriyat leaders, there have been close to a 1,000 ceasefire violations since the government took office and there have been repeated terror strikes in Jammu and Punjab — killing three in Kathua (March 2015), seven in Gurdaspur (July 2015), seven in Pathankot (January 2016) and five in Pampore (February 2016). What is the BJP’s, and more importantly the government’s, position on Pakistan? Is it “talks and terror can’t go together” or “the two countries will talk only if they have to discuss terror and not Kashmir” or “the perpetrators of 26/11 and Pathankot should be brought to justice before we talk” or “any third party involvement with the Hurriyat is where we draw the red line”? Alternatively, is Modi’s Pakistan policy based on exchanging saris and shawls with the Pakistan PM, and visiting Pakistan to wish him on his birthday and attend his granddaughter’s wedding? The country needs to know, the Opposition needs to know and perhaps, most importantly, ministers in the government need to know.

India needs to negotiate from a position of strength — that means we must decide not just when and where we talk to Pakistan, but also what we talk about. The Congress has always advocated peaceful, but results-oriented, negotiations to settle all disputes with Pakistan and dealt with the situation skilfully and sensitively when in power. It made sure Parliament and the Opposition were always taken into confidence and the media periodically briefed through a single channel of communication. Now what we have is absolute mayhem and confusion — even the senior-most ministers of the government are unaware of the PM’s visit to Pakistan, the visit of the Pakistani JIT and whether or not the JIT will be provided access to the Pathankot airbase. The desire for media attention and personal glory seems to have superseded national interest to yield foreign policy that is directionless, toothless and ineffective.

The Indian foreign ministry said the man, identified as Kulbhushan Yadav, was harassed while operating a legitimate business from Iran.

“While we probe this aspect further, his presence now in Pakistan raises questions, including the possibility of his abduction from Iran,” it said and asked Pakistan to grant consular access to Yadav.

The man’s statements “clearly indicates tutoring”, the foreign ministry said and, hence, “We are naturally concerned about his wellbeing in these circumstances.”

The footage shows the man saying he began working as an intelligence recruit after the attack on 2001 Parliament in New Delhi in which nine people were killed. He apparently set up a small business in Iran that provided him cover for frequent trips to Pakistan before becoming an agent for Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) — India’s external intelligence agency — in 2013.

He says he was caught trying to cross into Pakistan from Iran on March 3.

“Kulbhushan Yadav is a serving Indian naval officer whose primary mission was to foment terrorism in Karachi and Balochistan,” Lt General Bajwa said. “He converted to Islam and worked at Gadani under the cover of a scrap dealer.”

But there is no proof that the retired navy officer was detained in Balochistan, India had countered.

Yadav owns a small ship and used to carry cargo from ports in Iran to various destinations, sources told PTI. He could have been detained after he strayed into Pakistani waters and was being wrongly charged.