India?s leader visits Pakistan in move to ease tensions

It has been 12 years since an Indian prime minister last visited Pakistan and after an initial attempt at rapprochement when Mr Modi invited Mr Sharif to attend his inauguration in May last year, relations deteriorated and Mr Modi called off planned peace talks.

Modi soon arrived at Sharif’s private residence outside Lahore, meeting the Pakistani leader’s family at an estate decked out with decorations for the wedding of Sharif’s granddaughter.

Modi’s visit was seen very important ahead of the resumption of the official dialogue between the two countries next month after a break of almost eight year.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s spontaneous and brief Lahore stopover has garnered attention from domestic as well as global media.

After the meeting, Pakistani foreign secretary Aizaz Chaudhry said, “The Modi-Sharif meeting was held in a very cordial atmosphere…it has been decided that there will be greater interaction, people-to-people contact, and an environment of goodwill will be created”.

Inconsistency has marked Modi’s Pakistan policy till now. Pakistan, in turn, has sought to make the disputed Kashmir state the focus of talks. Congress should first decide want they want, he said, adding that the party was rattled by the popularity and growing stature of Modi at the worldwide level and acceptance among the people.

“The efforts initiated by Vajpayeeji should be taken forward by present leaders like Modiji and others, regarding the relationship between India and Pakistan”, Advani said, stressing the need to strengthen friendship between the two nations.

On Friday, Modi and Sharif agreed that their foreign secretaries would meet in mid-January to restart talks. He told the Indian PM that he developed this view when he visited India during the 1982 Asian Games and had the opportunity to travel through Punjab and Haryana, meeting people on the way.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, breaking all protocols and overcoming any fear of an opposition backlash at home, made a decision to stop over in Lahore to greet his Pakistani counterpart on his birthday.

“In a way, he is sending a signal to everyone that there will be no more U-turns”, said Siddharth Varadarajan, a founding editor at The Wire, an Indian news site. In addition, pending talks between the Directors-General of Military Operations may be scheduled. “Now, when the talks are happening in Pakistan, they’re saying why there”, stated Singh, including that any progressive individual or nation would recognize the step taken by the Prime Minister.