Pakistan PM Sharif to go to Modi inauguration in India

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is to attend the inauguration of Narendra Modi as
Prime Minister of India on Monday.

It is the first time since the two countries won independence in 1947 that a prime minister from one state will attend such a ceremony in the other.

The two nuclear-armed rivals have fought three wars in the past 60 years.

Mr Modi is seen as a hardliner on national security issues. His BJP party advocates a tough stance on Pakistan.

But correspondents say his huge election victory gives him a mandate to reach out to Pakistan in a way the previous administration could not.

Bilateral ties suffered badly in the wake of the 2008 attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai, when 166 people were killed by Pakistani gunmen.

Relations improved slightly under outgoing PM Manmohan Singh, but there are still regular skirmishes on the disputed border in Kashmir.

Mr Singh was invited to Mr Sharif’s inauguration last year but did not attend. BBC