The state funeral of the supreme spiritual leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been recorded as one of the largest funeral events in recent history. It was notable for its massive scale and political messaging. The Western media were granted rare access to project an image of an indomitable, united regime despite recent military and leadership setbacks. The funeral has prompted theorists to re-examine the potential of funeral diplomacy for peace in the international system. Pertinently, the nature of diplomacy is changing from secretive to public, and diplomats are negotiating complex borderless issues. South Asia has, on different occasions, found in funeral diplomacy a potential source of stability for inter-state relations.

DIPLOMACY Diplomacy, according to Sir Ernest Satow, is “the application of intelligence and tact to the conduct of official relations between the governments of independent states by peaceful means.” It was British ambassador Sir Henry Wotton who humorously remarked that “an ambassador is an honest man who is sent to lie abroad for the good of his country.” King James 1st (obviously taking this remark seriously) expressed shock at his envoy’s comment, sacked him, and never employed him again. Diplomacy, as an art and practice, was much time secretive, invisible, and largely elitist. It had no public dimension, and as a profession, it had seen little expansion due to the complex nature of inter-state relations. The rigid and archaic notions of sovereignty acted as real internal pressures on its workings. The nation-state model after the decolonization became the template for conducting inter-state relations among sovereign states. The emergence of public diplomacy saw a rise in various forms of diplomacy, mostly coined by the media resulting in democratising the domain of diplomacy. In April 2005, then Pakistan President General Musharraf arrived in New Delhi to strengthen ties with the new government and for a spot of cricket diplomacy. The visit coincided with a one-day international cricket match between India and Pakistan, parts of which Musharraf watched alongside Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Prime Minister Modi is also known for his........

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