The Modi Government appears to be escaping some searching questions on its Pakistan policy. For three years now, it has held Pakistan at arm’s length; New Delhi spends significant energy in naming and shaming Pakistan for abetting cross-border terrorism. There have been moments, such as after a particularly fulfilling peroration against Pakistan in the UN, when South Block has patted itself for ensuring its “diplomatic isolation”, as if to justify its strategy of refusing to break bread till Islamabad abandons using terrorism as an instrument of state policy. In particular two self-styled imams, widely considered as proxies of the Pakistan army, are in New Delhi’s cross sights. The naming of Masood Azhar as a UN-designated terrorist has been frontloaded on the Sino-India bilateral agenda, never mind that the other Imam, Hafiz Saeed does not appear to be worse-off despite a US bounty on his head.India’s ire at Pakistan’s cosseting of the two Imams is sound and reasonable: both Masood Azhar and Hafiz Saeed have considerable Indian blood on their hands. There is no harm in sustaining a policy of sullen coldness to make Pakistan mend its ways; India even threw a fit when the Palestine’s Pakistan envoy briefly shared the stage with Hafiz Saeed and forced his recall. However, it now appears that India’s security czar Ajit Doval secretly met his Pakistani counterpart in Bangkok. There must have been exceptionally compelling reasons for the Indian NSA to confabulate with a Pakistani a day after South Block fulminated over Islamabad’s ill-treatment of the wife and mother of imprisoned Indian Kulbhushan Jadhav.An impression appears to be gaining ground that the desh bhakts are playing both sides of the coin: regularly chastising Pakistan for all challenges and tribulations, real or invented, while holding secret consultations on the side. A responsible public figure is yet to explain this double-play when the downside of a muddled approach is evident: over 100 security personnel killed last year in Kashmir because of an unremitting tense situation. The Government owes an explanation for its approach on Pakistan that seems to wax and wane, almost on whim.