Its funny how even though no confirmation has come through or any press statement has been made about either side on a PM visit and people have started taking the visit as a done deal.
Even Fahim has said that no date has been scheduled. Unless some solid deals are finalized on any issue - trade, terrorism, border mgmt e.t.c, there will be no PM level visit.
As agentperry said, sticking you head in the sand and trying to pretend Pakistan doesn't exist is a foolish strategy. Ofcourse, personally I think GoI should be spending more time on our easter flank with Bangladesh, Myanmar and Sri Lanka to improve our relations rather than give an inordinate amount of time to Pakistan.
Given that India is signing a strategic pact to train security forces in Afghanistan - a big leap when such a commitment is made publicly; the GoI and Manmohan is carefully playing the game of strategic encirclement. And pushing trade including transit trade through to Pakistan is part of it. And if you believe Musharraf, Manmohan may already have activated RAW assets that are/were supporting Baloch insurgents in Af/Pak region. All indicating to a carrots and stick approach to Pakistan and trying to make the best out of a hopeless situation.
Finally, it actually doesn't require a lot of courage to be hostile to Pakistan. That is easy because that is the public opinion. What requires courage is going again the public opinion on an issue which as a visionary he feels is necessary to be resolved.
Vajpayee also invited Musharraf AFTER Kargil and this was a much bigger and more blatant attempt by Pakistan to attack India. We also lost many more lives albeit mainly soldiers in that incident. But 2 years down the track he was talking peace with the same man who had planned Kargil. He may have been wrong in trying but it did take courage on the part of Vajpayee to do so because he was going against public opinion.
Even Fahim has said that no date has been scheduled. Unless some solid deals are finalized on any issue - trade, terrorism, border mgmt e.t.c, there will be no PM level visit.
As agentperry said, sticking you head in the sand and trying to pretend Pakistan doesn't exist is a foolish strategy. Ofcourse, personally I think GoI should be spending more time on our easter flank with Bangladesh, Myanmar and Sri Lanka to improve our relations rather than give an inordinate amount of time to Pakistan.
Given that India is signing a strategic pact to train security forces in Afghanistan - a big leap when such a commitment is made publicly; the GoI and Manmohan is carefully playing the game of strategic encirclement. And pushing trade including transit trade through to Pakistan is part of it. And if you believe Musharraf, Manmohan may already have activated RAW assets that are/were supporting Baloch insurgents in Af/Pak region. All indicating to a carrots and stick approach to Pakistan and trying to make the best out of a hopeless situation.
Finally, it actually doesn't require a lot of courage to be hostile to Pakistan. That is easy because that is the public opinion. What requires courage is going again the public opinion on an issue which as a visionary he feels is necessary to be resolved.
Vajpayee also invited Musharraf AFTER Kargil and this was a much bigger and more blatant attempt by Pakistan to attack India. We also lost many more lives albeit mainly soldiers in that incident. But 2 years down the track he was talking peace with the same man who had planned Kargil. He may have been wrong in trying but it did take courage on the part of Vajpayee to do so because he was going against public opinion.