Earlier on Friday, Prime Minister Modi visited Kabul, where both India and Afghanistan agreed to increase and expand training opportunities for Afghan National Security and Defence Forces in relevant Indian institutions, based on the requirements of Afghanistan.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to hop across to Lahore on his way back from Kabul – marking the first visit by an Indian PM to Pakistan since 2004 – took most people by surprise.
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At Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport, Pakistan’s prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, received Modi with a warm bear hug before the two swiftly walked from the Indian leader’s jet to an awaiting helicopter.
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The Indian leader, who sipped Kashmiri tea while meeting Sharif, also met the Pakistani leader’s mother. The two diplomatic establishments are asserting that it was entirely spontaneous.
Whereas the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) source said that Sharif had invited Modi to attend the marriage of his grand daughter Mehrun Nisa in Raiwind, but the congress leaders stated that it was just an adventure, which is utterly ridiculous.
The two countries also have longstanding tensions over the Indian region of Kashmir.
But a fresh thaw appeared to be setting in earlier this month when, following a brief meeting between Modi and Sharif on the sidelines of the Paris climate change conference in November, the two countries’ national security advisors met in Thailand. He expressed the hope that the two Prime Ministers will address the lack of consistency in the diplomatic relations between the countries and also address the knee jerk reactions of the past.
VHP’s Pravin Togadia sounded cautious while issuing a statement on the visit, “We hope that Modi’s tour of Pakistan leads to effective action by the neighbouring country against terrorists operating from their soil”.
After spending about two hours with Mr Modi at his residence, Mr Sharif went to the Lahore airport along with Modi to see him off.
“It was a goodwill visit”, Chaudhry said, adding: “Both leaders agreed to take forward the bilateral dialogue process in a positive manner”. “India and Pakistan have to evolve a mechanism to involve the core party to the issue _ that is the Kashmiri people”.
In the past, when the former Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee visited Pakistan, the then-military chief Musharaff who later became the President of Pakistan, was reported to have objected to the visit of Vajpayee.
The Modi government’s Pakistan policy has been a blow-hot blow-cold affair. India has accused Pakistan of using terrorism to achieve its foreign policy goals, while the latter has said normal relations can only be restored when Kashmir’s status is resolved.
He said, “I have already written in my book that the two countries’ leadership should come to the table sooner or later and it is a good move by the Indian Prime Minister”.
The visit took everyone by surprise in India and Pakistan. Journalist and professor Dr Tauseef Ahmed Khan said the visit will have a positive impact in efforts to normalise the relationship.
Mistrust between India and Pakistan runs deep and in Afghanistan many believe that Islamabad sponsors the Taliban insurgency to weaken the Kabul government and limit the influence of India. The “Composite Dialogue” will restart after the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
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News of Modi’s visit, the first by an Indian leader in over a decade, broke via Twitter. A cease-fire along the India-Pakistan line of control that serves as the Kashmir boundary has largely held since 2003, but firing and gunbattles are fairly common, with each side routinely blaming the other.
