NEW DELHI: Indian premier Manmohan Singh confirmed Wednesday he will meet Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif this weekend in a major step towards better relations following rising tensions.
Singh said he will hold talks with Nawaz Sharif on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, the first such meeting in three years, amid heightened friction over a string of deadly military attacks across their border in disputed Kashmir.
“During my visit to New York, I... look forward to bilateral meetings with the leaders of some of our neighbouring countries, including Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan,” Singh said in a statement before leaving for the United States.
Singh will first head to Washington to meet President Barack Obama to try to strengthen economic ties between the two world's largest democracies including on nuclear power, before leaving for New York.
“Over the past decade, our relationship with the United States, which is one of our most important relationships, has transformed into a global strategic partnership,” his statement said.
New Delhi and Islamabad have been working behind the scenes in recent weeks to secure a meeting, which was in jeopardy after deadly skirmishes in recent weeks between their militaries. The attacks repeatedly broke a ceasefire in place since 2003 along the de facto border in Kashmir.
The picturesque Himalayan region is divided between India and Pakistan by the UN-monitored Line of Control (LoC), but is claimed in full by both countries. Two of their three wars have been fought over Kashmir.
The deadly flare-ups followed an ambush in August that killed five Indian soldiers along the LoC. India blamed the Pakistan army for the attack, a charge that Islamabad denied.
Since winning a general election in May, Sharif has been vocal in his desire for better relations with India.
Last month he urged both sides to work swiftly to shore up the 10-year ceasefire after India's defence minister hinted at stronger military action along the LoC.
Analyst K. G. Suresh said the incidents in Kashmir, along with attacks by Pakistani militants on Indian soil, were among issues expected to be raised at the meeting — set to be held at a New York hotel on Sunday.
But Suresh told AFP that talk of a resumption of peace talks as a direct result of the meeting was premature. The talks were halted in January, shortly after they had resumed, following a deadly flare-up at that time along the LoC.
“The meeting is definitely a huge step forward (to improved relations),”said Suresh of the Vivekanand International Foundation think-tank.
“The Indian PM has taken a calculated risk by agreeing to meet Sharif ahead of elections next year,” he added.
India's embattled ruling Congress party faces national elections next year and is under domestic pressure not to be seen as too soft on Pakistan.
The premiers of India and Pakistan last met in 2010 on the sidelines of a regional summit in Bhutan's capital Thimphu, with both sides reaffirming the importance of moving forward with dialogue.
Peace talks were suspended for three years after the 2008 attacks in Mumbai which killed 166 people and which India blamed on Pakistani militants.
India has been demanding that Pakistan speed up trials for militants on its side thought to have been behind the attacks.
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Narendra Modi has massive support among India's middle classes and business community, who credit him with turning Gujarat into an economic powerhouse
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India's main opposition party has named controversial politician Narendra Modi as its prime ministerial candidate for elections due next year.
Mr Modi, who has been chief minister of Gujarat state since 2001, has long been seen as a rising star of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
In June, he was chosen to lead the party's campaign for the election.
Mr Modi is credited with making Gujarat one of India's most prosperous states.
But he is also accused of doing little to stop anti-Muslim riots in 2002 which left more than 1,000 dead - allegations he has always denied.
In recent months he has been courted by international investors and foreign diplomats, and his image is that of a clean and efficient administrator who is corruption-free.
'No stone unturned'
A crowd of jubilant supporters gathered outside the BJP's headquarters in New Delhi ahead of the formal announcement of Mr Modi's candidacy on Friday.
"I assure that I will leave no stone unturned in working for a BJP victory in the 2014 elections," Mr Modi said in a statement after being nominated.
"I seek the blessings of the people in our efforts to free our nation of the turbulent times we are going through."
Critics say his candidacy will shift the debate from the alleged scams and inefficiencies of the ruling Congress to Mr Modi's controversial persona, the BBC's Vineet Khare, in Delhi, reports.
But supporters see him as a strong figure who can lead the BJP to power, after it lost the last two parliamentary elections, our correspondent says.
A brilliant speaker, Mr Modi was chosen in June to lead the BJP's election campaign for next year. Some senior party leaders including former deputy prime minister L K Advani opposed his appointment.
However, Mr Modi has massive support both within the party as well as among India's middle classes and business community, who see him as a charismatic leader who has turned Gujarat into an economic powerhouse.
As a result, he was re-elected twice as the state's chief minister.
Mr Modi also enjoys strong backing from senior leaders in the right-wing Hindu organisation the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
The RSS, founded in the 1920s with a clear objective to make India a Hindu nation, functions as an ideological fountainhead to a host of hardline Hindu groups - including Mr Modi's BJP, with which it has close ties.
The RSS has a particularly strong base in Gujarat, and Mr Modi's links were seen as a strength the organisation could tap into when he joined the state unit of the BJP in the 1980s.
Ability for secrecy
Mr Modi has a formidable reputation as a party organiser, along with an ability for secrecy, which comes from years of training as an RSS "pracharak" or propagandist, analysts say.
Although Mr Modi escaped censure in the 2001 Gujarat riots, his close aide, Maya Kodnani, was convicted last year and sent to jail for 28 years.
The rioting began after 60 Hindu pilgrims died in a train fire blamed on Muslims in the town of Godhra.
Ms Kodnani was not a minister at the time of the riots, but was appointed junior minister for women and child development by Mr Modi in 2007.
His critics accused him of "rewarding her with the ministership" for her role in the riots.
Mr Modi himself has never expressed any remorse or offered any apologies for the riots, and many Muslims displaced by the violence continue to live in ghettos near Ahmedabad, Gujarat's largest city and commercial capital.
