India, Pak Foreign Secretaries to meet on Jan 15

State BJP today welcomed the surprise visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Pakistan saying his recent visits shows his honest commitment to bring peace in the Indian sub-continent and the world.

“The PM’s visit to Pakistan has to be taken forward”.

The New York Times said the tense relations between India and Pakistan “have long anxious American policy makers, who fear that proxy wars between the two countries could flare into a real one”.

Former diplomats and retired generals who have dealt with Pakistan said Modi’s dramatic gesture of flying to Lahore from Afghanistan on Friday and meeting his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif was a good beginning.

After spending about two hours with Mr Modi at his residence, Mr Sharif went to the Lahore airport along with Modi to see him off.

“We welcome the surprise visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Pakistan. He has done something no other Indian prime minister ever did”, Srinagar resident Abid Wani said. “We hope that Pakistan will also remain steadfast on its stand on Kashmir issue”.

Russian Federation has been a strong reliable friend of India and both countries have a strategic relationship and the present visit was aimed to strengthen the ties between the two countries.

He said Modi’s daring visit to Pakistan has left the opposition parties dumbfounded. “Abdul Gani Bhat, head of Muslim Conference, a constituent of the “moderate” Hurriyat faction, said his party supports the resumption of dialogue process between India and Pakistan to resolve all disputes, including of course the dispute on Kashmir, and consider this development as an effectively civilized means to move out from the frozen yesterdays to a peacefully productive tomorrow”, Bhat said.

Meanwhile, the State Department said Modi’s overture towards Pakistan would “benefit the entire region”. Sharif came to New Delhi when Modi took oath a year ago.

PM Modi returned to New Delhi where he was welcomed and met briefly by his foreign minister Sushma Swaraj at the airport.

Earlier Friday, in a speech to the Afghan parliament, Modi urged closer cooperation between India, Pakistan and other neighbours over Afghanistan. We can not have Ghulam Ali singing in India.