NEW DELHI — India’s new premier heads to his first South Asia summit this week seeking stronger regional integration in the face of growing Chinese influence, but experts see little hope of progress while tensions with Pakistan persist.

 

The region’s first summit in three years follows some of the worst cross-border violence in Kashmir in a decade, and comes as NATO-led troops prepare to pull out of Afghanistan, intensifying the India-Pakistan rivalry as the countries vie for influence there.

 

New Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a charm offensive on India’s neighbors after winning a landslide election victory this year, raising hopes he would reinvigorate the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

 

The Washington-based Brookings Institution said Modi had “boldly stroked new hope for the future of SAARC” after a dismal past performance that earned it a reputation as the “unruly stepchild” of international organizations.

 

But expectations of progress at the summit have dimmed in recent weeks “owing to the escalation along the India-Pakistan border beyond the quotidian skirmishes that typically characterize this region,” Brookings said in a recent briefing.

 

Modi raised hopes of a softening in relations with Islamabad when he invited all the SAARC leaders, including his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif, to his swearing-in.

 

But any hopes of a reconciliation were dashed when India angrily cancelled senior-level talks with Pakistan just months later, after Islamabad’s envoy to New Delhi met with Kashmiri separatists.

 

Since then, the disputed Himalayan region has suffered some of its worst cross-border firing since India and Pakistan signed a cease-fire a decade ago, with both sides trading blame for civilian deaths.

 

India’s new right-wing nationalist government has adopted a more aggressive policy on Pakistan than its predecessor.

 

Modi warned Islamabad in a speech during the latest unrest that “times have changed and their old habits will not be tolerated.”

 

His aggressive stance on Pakistan contrasts with attempts to woo India’s smaller neighbors.

 

No formal agenda for the meeting of leaders of the SAARC nations — Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, the Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka — has yet been released.

 

Nepal’s foreign ministry said last week that they would discuss poverty alleviation, public health, agriculture, tourism and cross-border trade, which remains minimal, due in part to poor transport infrastructure. Three agreements have been prepared ahead of the summit, two on improving road and rail connections and one on making it easier for countries in the power-starved region to trade in electricity. — AFP