Pakistan has been trying for the past couple of years to ignite feelings of harmony with India by sending visit invitations to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, but they were repeatedly declined by him due to non satisfactory state of affairs with Pakistan, according to him.
The two countries share a long history of friction since partition in 1947. The Kashmir dispute also adds to reasons for non friendly relations between India and Pakistan.
Nowadays, the Chief Minister of Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif, who’s also brother of the Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, is on a three-day trip to India. He, along with Tariq Fatemi, who is the Special Assistant of the Prime Minister, presented the invitation to Mr. Singh during their half an hour meeting.
A goodwill message was also presented by Nawaz Sharif accentuating on “Pakistan’s desire to forge friendly and cooperative relations with India in the interest of peace and prosperity of the people of the two countries and of the region.”
The acceptance of the invitation is a progressive step towards achieving better peace situation between India and Pakistan. Bikram Singh Majithia, who is revenue minister of the Indian Punjab, said: “The visit will help bring east and west Punjab and their people closer. Both Punjabs can benefit from trade and people-to-people ties,”
Note that Punjab, an agriculturally rich and vast province of India, was bifurcated as east and west Punjab, when the two countries gained separate independence from the British rule. Now, West Punjab is located in Pakistan and East Punjab in India, with similar cultural background in the two regions due to common history.
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