PM Modi harbinger of ‘Innovative Diplomacy’: Rajnath

Terming as “innovative diplomacy” the surprise meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart in Lahore, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday said it was in line with Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s vision of Indo-Pak ties.

It was Modi’s first visit to Pakistan and the first by an Indian prime minister in more than a decade.

But Modi’s brief stopover in Lahore because of his desire to meet Premier Nawaz has generated enormous interest in the world media, with leading print news organisations welcoming the normalisation of ties between the two neighbours.

Modi and Sharif are expected to meet in Davos on the margins of the World Economic Forum, to be held from January 20 to 23, senior officials from both countries have confirmed to The Telegraph.

Briefing reporters after Modi’s departure on Sunday night, Pakistani foreign secretary Aizaz Chaudhry said, “It was a goodwill visit and the two sides made a decision to understand each other’s reservations and restart the comprehensive dialogue in a positive manner”.

“The challenge in India-Pakistan relations has always been to keep up the momentum of talks despite hiccups that are inevitable”, J. Jegannathan, professor of South Asian studies at the Central University of Jammu, told The Telegraph.

Inconsistency has marked Modi’s Pakistan policy till now.

“He’s personalised diplomacy to an extent we haven’t seen in India since (India’s first prime minister) Jawaharlal Nehru in the 1950s”, she said. Sources here stated that the Indian PM emphasised on the necessity of peace in the region during his meeting with Sharif.

The influential Washington Post said that with his surprise stop in Pakistan, Modi had “pressed the reset button on the blow-hot-blow-cold relationship between the two nuclear-armed neighbours, paving the way for official dialogue to resume next month”.