Start-up India, Stand-up India action plan from January 16: Modi

Gul, head of the Islamabad-based Center for Research and Security Studies, said that tension-free Pak-India ties would be helpful for the implementation of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline project.

“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.

Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz has said that Foreign Secretaries of Pakistan and India will meet on 14th or 15th of next month to prepare a schedule for comprehensive dialogue. “Constant engagement is the only way to resolve all outstanding issues”.

Modi, who had made the announcement about the campaign in his last Independence Day address, said the programme will be created to suit Indian conditions and focus would be on ensuring benefits for the youth from the lowest strata of the society.

Modi also became the only Indian prime minister to have visited the private residence of a Pakistani prime minister.

Branding the visit a “duel standard” by the government, the leaders alleged that Modi had taken “U-turn” regarding Pakistan.

Mr Khosa further said poverty was a common enemy of both countries and they should fight it together.

Pakistani officials and western diplomats in Islamabad said United States officials also worked hard to convince army chief Sharif during his visit to Washington last month to support going back to the negotiating table.

“It is a good gesture”.

“(Atal Behari) Vajpayee had, to mend relations between both countries started the “Lahore bus” service and also went out of his way to meet General (Parvez) Musharraf in Agra.

The news of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surprise stopover in Pakistan on Friday took everyone by surprise.

According to The Los Angeles Times, with his Lahore visit Modi “breathed new life into a long troubled” relationship.

Despite the continuous crackdown on the separatists in Kashmir, the leading separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani clarified that they don’t have any reservation about improving ties between India and Pakistan.

He hailed the PM for his surprise and unscheduled to Pakistan to convey his greetings on the 66th birthday of Nawaz Sharif saying it gave a new dimension to the diplomatic relations between India and Pakistan.