KL NEWS NETWORK
SRINAGAR
Birthdays are rarely celebrated in Muslim community, however, this birthday is a different one.
Pakistan premier, Mian Nawaz Sharief, is 66 years old now. Born on this day two years later when Pakistan was born, Nawaz Sharief has a surprise visit of his Indian counterpart, Narendra Damodar Modi.
An active social media user, Modi, on his way back from Russia, tweeted early Friday that he shall land in Lahore to wish Sharief.
Modi, in between, had a brief visit of war torn Afghanistan where India is investing ‘generously’. Taliban infected land has been “bone of contention” between nuclear armed India and Pakistan.
The news came as a surprise for many as PM Modi announced his sudden landing in Pakistan. The rivalry between India and Pakistan has been major hurdle in the filling the gaps amongst South Asian nations which for South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).
Modi was scheduled to fly to Pakistan in mid-2016 to attend one of its summits.
The relationship between India and Pakistan has been witnessing ups and downs quite often. With many “contentious issues” remaining unresolved between the neighbours, Kashmir tops the list.
Of late, the relations saw new beginning when NSAs of two rival nations in South Asia met in Bangkok followed by Sushma Swaraj’s visit to Islamabad where she met Sharief.
The visit of Swaraj followed a joint statement issued from Pakistan capital announcing fresh start of “comprehensive bilateral dialogue”. The statement included J&K as one of the long-time pending disputes between India and Pakistan.
Back in Kashmir, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was all excited over the announcement along with opposition led by National Conference.
PDP has been maintaining that India and Pakistan need to come together so that “peace is maintained in Jammu and Kashmir”.
However, the separatist camp has been divided. Peacenik Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has showed optimism in the Indo-Pak thaw and has welcomed the development along with Prof Abdul Gani Bhat.
On the other hand, Syed Ali Geelani has asked Pakistan “to clear its stand on the Kashmir Issue”.
When Modi is set to land in Pakistan, former CM and NC working president, Omar Abdulla, tweeted “Now waiting for the statement from J&K govt claiming that Mufti Sayeed was the one who forced PM Modi to visit Lahore today.”
