CAA recovers high tea expenses incurred on Modi’s visit from PIA

Earlier during the day, defence minister Manohar Parrikar briefed Prime Minister Modi on the latest situation at the Pathankot air base.

A leading American newspaper Saturday welcomed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surprise Christmas Day trip to Pakistan, saying he may have concluded that improved ties with Islamabad could help him realize his domestic ambitions, which, it said, include transforming India into an economic power. Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the attack on the air base was the first major challenge to Modi’s Pakistan plan and that BJP will have to move beyond its stand on talks and terror to insulate the dialogue process. “As they clasped hands while walking down the red carpet at the Lahore airport recently, Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan and Narendra Modi of India looked more like close friends than the leaders of two countries whose tense relations have always been a threat to regional stability”, the Times said in an editorial, titled: India and Pakistan Try Again.

The conference turned out to be a game-changer for the two South Asian nuclear neighbours. The countries will sign a number of MoUs and trade and business agreements during the visit of the prime minister. Seven security personnel, including an officer of the National Security Guard, were also killed in the counter-offensive against the terrorists.

The unexpected Pak visit of Modi ambushed not just hawks from both sides but it also prevented a Pathankot-type incident derailing pre-scheduled talks as happened with the NSA-level meet past year. Others thought this gesture by the Indian premier will lead to a new beginning. An Indian prime minister visiting Pakistan after more than a decade is of great importance in itself, but for a man who is considered to be extremely hawkish when it comes to Pakistan to visit at such short notice, even for a photo-op, is quite a breakthrough.

As for his 2016 itinerary, Saudi Arabia had offered January 15-16 as possible dates for Modi’s visit but he may travel to Riyadh in February after new Indian ambassador Ahmed Javed settles down, government sources told media.