PM Narendra Modi touches Nawaz Sharif’s mother’s feet

While Indian media suggested Modi was the driving force behind the visit, a Pakistan official said it was Islamabad’s idea to arrange a meeting ahead of formal diplomatic talks set for January.

“The Secretary General has always been encouraging both leaders of the two countries to engage in dialogue”.

“Modi has made clear he is willing to risk political capital to make peace”, the Indian Express newspaper said, warning that any future terrorist attacks traced to Pakistan would invite “savage criticism”.

Modi said Sharif touchingly recalled his interactions with former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the last Indian prime minister to go to Pakistan and who is now bed-ridden.

Modi, who inaugurated a new parliament complex built with Indian help in Kabul, spoke to Sharif earlier on Friday to wish him on his 66th birthday. However, there can be absolutely no doubt that vast majority of well-meaning citizens in India and Pakistan that applaud Narendra Modi for his bold initiative, which certainly can be called as extraordinary considering the hostile relationship and border skirmishes between both the countries for last several decades.

The South Asian nations agreed two weeks ago to restart peace talks that had been stalled since Mr. Modi took office in May 2014.

“The Prime Ministers discuss India Pakistan relations”, tweeted Vikas Swarup, a spokesman for India’s Ministry of External Affairs.

“Modi’s visit to Lahore has created hope and it indicates his style of diplomacy”, Malik told IANS.

“We welcome the thaw in Pak-India relations, but to have a business associate arrange the two prime ministers’ meetings has an underlying conflict of interest”, he tweeted.

Prime minister Narendra Modi’s personal touch to India’s relationship with other countries world over is adding a new dimension to the country’s acceptance as a significant player in worldwide politics and also bi-lateral and multi-lateral deliberations.

“PM Modi came up to PM Sharif with the words, “It is time to start talking again”, after which PM Sharif suggested they sit down and talk”, an official present at the meeting said.

“Nobody wants to oppose peace between India and Pakistan…We welcome the gesture, but assert that such goodwill gestures would only remain cosmetic as long as the people of Jammu and Kashmir divided between India and Pakistan continue to stew in their own soup”, Malik said.

A full 28 years after Nehru’s second visit, his grandson and prime minister Rajiv Gandhi visited Pakistan in 1988 to take part in the fourth SAARC conference.

The Indian leader, who sipped Kashmiri tea while meeting Sharif, also met the Pakistani leader’s mother.