Indian Prime Minister Makes Surprise Visit to Pakistan

Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India, made an unexpected trip to Lahore on Friday, December 25, to meet and discuss with his Pakistani counterpart, Nawaz Sharif. This is the first time in a decade that an Indian Prime Minister has visited Pakistan. According to a Reuters report, after Modi disembarked from the plane in Lahore, Nawaz Sharif embraced him, and the two leaders then boarded a helicopter to the residence of the Prime Minister of Pakistan. A spokesperson for the Prime Minister of Pakistan told Reuters that the two leaders would discuss bilateral issues, including developments in Kashmir, which is the main point of contention between the two nuclear countries in South Asia. Modi stopped in Pakistan on his way to Russia. Earlier on Friday, he visited Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, and participated in the inauguration ceremony of the new parliament building funded by New Delhi, which cost over $200 million. The Reuters report adds that India and Pakistan have finally resumed high-level contacts after months of strained relations, following a brief meeting between the two Prime Ministers on the sidelines of the international climate change conference in Paris. A close advisor to Narendra Modi stated that the visit to Pakistan was a sudden decision by the Prime Minister and his National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval, and should not be interpreted as a fundamental change in India's stance towards Pakistan. The advisor, who wished to remain anonymous, told Reuters, 'This is a clear sign that active engagement can happen quickly.' Modi's trip to Pakistan is the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister since the 2008 Mumbai attacks, during which 166 people were killed by militants trained in Pakistan. The two countries were separated after India's independence from Britain in 1947. The majority religion in India is Hinduism, while in Pakistan, it is Islam. Modi, a Hindu nationalist, became Prime Minister of India in 2014 and has adopted a tougher stance towards Pakistan, granting security forces at the border the authority to respond to any aggressive actions. In this context, those accused of planning and executing the deadliest attack in India have been executed.