India’s Modi on Surprise ‘Goodwill’ Visit to Pakistan

Sartaj Aziz said the visit of Modi was a goodwill visit and it has been welcomed by majority of people in Pakistan and India as well as the global community.

He rejected claims made by many that the Indian prime minister’s entourage visited Lahore without any visas, or that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had had a secret meeting with his Indian counterpart in Kathmandu.

The news of the stopover was announced by Modi on Twitter: “Looking forward to meeting PM Nawaz Sharif in Lahore today afternoon, where I will drop by on my way back to Delhi”.

Before PM Modi, only three prime ministers Jawahar Lal Nehru, Rajiv Gandhi and Atal Bihari Vajpayee visited the neighbouring nation.

A second member of Sharif’s cabinet said the same of Modi.

About Mr Modi’s allegations against Pakistan during his visit to Kabul, the PML-Q chief said: “We should also keep in mind that strong Indo-Pakistan relations can not be built on allegations which Modi had leveled against Pakistan in Afghanistan just two hours prior to his Lahore visit”. Padosi se aise hi rishte hone chahiyen (this is the kind of relation one should have with neighbours).

Before and after it came to power, the Bhartiya Janta Party has been consistent in opposing any dialogue with the separatists in Kashmir, even physically stopping them from meeting the Pakistan ambassador in Delhi last summer.

“Modi-ji’s visit to Pakistan was not dictated by America but it was planned to keep the national and regional interest in mind”, the aide said, using a Hindi term of respect for the premier.

Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, Kashmir’s chief cleric who heads the moderate separatist Hurriyat group, added: “It is a positive move, a good step and we should welcome easing of tensions between the two countries”. Leaders of India and Pakistan have met on four occasions in the past one month.

He said in a dramatic and unscheduled meeting between prime ministers of India and Pakistan in Lahore it was decided that foreign secretaries of the two countries would meet in mid-January to decide details of dialogue on all issues.

“What needs to be remembered is that there is a belief that no politician who has tried to get too close to Pakistan has been able to remain in politics for long”. Given that both prime ministers have committed to improving cross-border ties, I am hoping that they will be able to carry through their stated intentions, despite any pressure to go astray.