At granddaughter’s wedding, Nawaz Sharif flaunts pink turban gifted by

Prime Minister Narendra Modi stunned many in India and Pakistan when he landed in Lahore on December 25 to want Nawaz Sharif on his 66th birthday. Sources said there were some concerns – one, can an IAF plane in which Modi was travelling back from Kabul be allowed to land in Lahore given the sensitivities that the IAF had bombed that area during the 1965 war.

The process of resumption of talks was set in motion after a meeting between Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan in Paris on November 30 on the sidelines of Climate Change Conference. “Pakistan’s soil is cursed and kissing it would prove to be costly because it is soaked in the blood of lakhs of innocent Indians”, the statement said. The two leaders were later shown sitting together in a room looking happy and relaxed.

Further reinforcing that point is the fact that during her stay in Islamabad Foreign Minister Swaraj – one of the hard-liners who sabotaged the previous BJP prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s proposed peace agreement at Agra with the then Pakistan president General Pervez Musharraf – while “extending India’s hand towards Pakistan” had underscored the need for increased connectivity and regional trade via Pakistan.

Others questioned whether the newfound friendship would translate into concrete progress on peace, thwarted by issues such as India’s fear of Pakistan-sanctioned terror attacks and violence-plagued Kashmir. Pakistan’s Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Tehreek-e-Insaaf Chief Imran Khan welcomed Modi’s visit to Pakistan. “The world can not move ahead without innovation”, Modi said. Another stall for an online retailer had a banner which read: “Shop online in India, delivered at your doorstep in Pakistan”. “Aap Lahore mein ghar aa jayiye, Lahore ke darwaze bhi aap ke liye khule hain (Come to my Lahore home, the doors of Lahore are also open for you)”, the official quoted Sharif as telling the Indian PM.

Stating that every youth associated with IITs, IIMs, central universities and NITs will be linked to this programme through liveconnectivity, Modi said the talent of our youth is not restricted to a few cities. Analysts viewed the visit as a potential turning point in Pakistani-Indian relations. Although officially it is claimed that Modi’s decision to call on Nawaz Sharif at Lahore while flying back to New Delhi, had been a spur of the moment decision, going by the minute details, there seem to be not many takers for the official claim.

As well as the parliament building, India is also supplying three Russian-made Mi-35 helicopters to Afghanistan’s small air force, adding badly needed capacity to provide close air support to its hard-pressed security forces.

PM Modi also invited people to connect with him via the “Narendra Modi App”. The issue of Kashmir and terrorism are the oxygen which keep pumping life into those groups whose members may profess to two different faiths, but share an nearly indistinct narrow outlook.