Narendra Modi’s refusal to facilitate an “oxygen corridor” with Pakistan may or may not suggest that the Indian civil-military leadership is reading from different pages. As far as the quiet backchannel peace process goes, this puts New Delhi on the backfoot. India’s healthcare system is facing near collapse. Despite being home to the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, the country is now relying on donations and imports to try and tackle the Covid crisis; following the Prime Minister’s grave misstep in exporting untold amounts of inoculations for hard cash and political goodwill. Now, the citizenry is paying the price. This makes Modi’s rejection of help from this side of the Punjab border all the more alarming. The top Amritsar political leadership has spent the last month calling on the Centre to take up Prime Minister Imran Khan’s offer to help with oxygen supplies, particularly as Lahore lies just 50 kilometres away. Similar proposals to send medical supplies have also seemingly been turned down. The bottom line being that the ruling BJP would accept help from an “enemy nation” over its dead body. Sadly, there are already too many of these. What does this mean for the Indo-Pak peace process? What we know is that it is creeping ahead, and Modi’s theatrics will not change this. After all, the beginning of the year saw a ceasefire return to the LoC for the first time since 2008. The UAE has confirmed mediating on Kashmir; although Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi was quick to pooh-pooh this. Saudi Arabia has now thrown its hat into the ring. Of course, as everyone and their cats knows, it is not unusual for ‘hostile’ states to maintain contacts at the intelligence level. Yet no good will come of BJP stubbornness on this front. The party already suffered a humiliating defeat in the West Bengal legislative polls and with general elections scheduled for 2024 – who knows who will be at the helm? Be that as it may, national emergencies are meant to bring people and countries together. This was something that President-General Pervez Musharraf understood when he accepted Indian aid, including a financial tranche of some $25 million, in the immediate aftermath of the devasting 2005 earthquake. It’s a shame PM Modi doesn’t see things the same way. Ultimately, this will not hurt Pakistan but the people of India. And they have already suffered enough. *