India welcomes rule-breaker Modi’s surprise Pakistan visit

“But the two leaders are trying to establish a personal equation that can add momentum to the structured process of official talks in the future”, he added.

Tensions run deep between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.

The Lahore visit comes after India and Pakistan resumed high-level contacts with a brief conversation between Sharif and Modi at climate change talks in Paris late last month, part of efforts to restart a peace dialogue plagued by militant attacks and long-standing distrust.

Army chief Gen. Raheel Sharif is said to be close to the new national security adviser, recently retired general Naseer Khan Janjua, who in October replaced civilian Sartaj Aziz, an ally of the prime minister. Since gaining independence from Britain in 1947, India and Pakistan have fought three wars, two of them over Kashmir, the Himalayan region that both countries claim.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday a full action plan of the “Start-up India, Stand-up India” programme, aimed at providing fresh impetus to entrepreneurship at the grass-root level, will be announced on January 16. Modi always had a desire to combine a trip to Kabul and Islamabad, said government officials. He said that most of the times it has been seen that differently-abled persons have extra ordinary capabilities.

Saying that the meeting sent a signal to “hawkish” constituencies in both India and Pakistan, The Khaleej Times said, “Equally, it also sends signals down the line to the Indian military and civilian bureaucracies that the NDA government’s Pakistan policy has embarked on a new and momentous course”. Security was beefed up at the Lahore International Airport shortly before Modi’s arrival.

Responding to a point raised by Leader of the Opposition Aitzaz Ahsan, the Advisor said no secret meeting was held between Pak-Indian prime ministers at Kathmandu.

While the broad areas have been spelt out by the two countries, sources said there was no bar on including new areas of collaboration and cooperation. John Kirby, spokesman for the U.S. State Department, said the visit was a welcome one.

The US State Department said Modi’s overture towards Pakistan would “benefit the entire region”.

In recent years, relations have begun to warm. He said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif told him that at the moment he was in Lahore and later Prime Minister Modi landed in Lahore.

Pakistan described Modi’s stopover right here as a “goodwill go to” and stated the 2 leaders mentioned concerning the complete dialogue which the 2 nations have lately determined to start out.