foreign policy is just an extension of a nation's wars, the goal of foreign policy is not to end wars, but rather to ward off defeats and to make sure one is successful in subsequent warfare.

You can't change old habits Indians are grown up with hate feeding against Pakistanis look at their news papers, movies and TV, they are obsessed with Pakistan. I am living Indians since 1994 and found them extremely biased and narrow minded

I think both sides need to be mentally prepared that relationship with each other will go from bad to worse. It's extremely unfortunate but true.

Modi' image in Pakistan...lol...Last thing on the planet he cares about...

I don't know if an ex minister has got any credibilty. His party is not in the power then who allowed him to make statements on behalf of a nation. And then you say there is not any progress......LOL

I never knew modi had any positivity in his image to begin with, as far as Pakistan is concerned, the only way for modi to go, image wise, is up in Pakistan's eyes.

Pakistan and India are conjoined twins...if one goes down it will take the other along...imagine a such an unfortunate scenario of 2 billion people running around without food and shelter and nowhere to go...UN should play active role to pacify both countries...

Well I wish that track 2 dialogues continue, but I disagree that india's position on the various issues is based on internal political considerations. After the Manmohan Singh govt, there was widesspread discontent among most indians about what they perceived to be a softer approach to Pakistan. Especially in the wake of 26/11 everyone wanted tougher steps against Pakistan. The BJP only managed to use this anti-pakistani sentiment to their advantage, they didnt create it. So yeah, as much Mani and others in favour of normalised relationship have a point, any attempt to just go on with business as usual will not go down well with the Indian voter. At the end of the day, both countries should find a way to have a fruitful relationship, but at least from an Indian perspective there is less enthusiasm to move forward on issues like Kashmir now. If anything, the predominent sentiment is that of impatience and indifference. The prospects for such dialogue look bleak in the short to medium term.

"Modi's image in Pakistan has taken a knocking after initial optimism". Do you really think Modi spends sleepless nights worried about what Pakistanis think about him?

Modi's image in pakistan? Trust me people, Modi has more important things to do. Pakistan and its media should stop exaggerating their importance!

These are a bunch of jokers. nobody knows they travel back and forth. maybe free food, free hotels, free plane tickets, free sight seeing is more like it. No other reasons.

Neighbors have certain obligation, India always fails to oblige by that and eventually under pressure form foreign powers come back to the table. Is'nt it wise that India learn from the past and keep on talking for her sake?

Chai biskut and time pass . hehe.....haha......agreed to meet again .

Last time I heard Mani Shankar Aiyar lost his deposit in the election he just fought . So who is he now ?

In the Track II diplomacy, out of 30 Indian PM, only 3 are from ruling party. It is clear signal to Pakistan that India is not interested in Pakistan. Sumitra Mahajan said the same but she used the rule book & didn't wish to meet Pakistan MP delegation. Pakistan should wait for Congress party to return back into power in 2024. Modi isn't going to lose power for another 10years. From 2024, Congress party can have endless talks with Pakistan. Manishankar aiyar likes to be in the news and he will continue to greet Pakistan

Congress MP Mani Shankar Aiyar is not part of government. He invited these 12 MP on a personal visit not sanctioned by Indian govt. Get used to cold relations for another half decade. 1. Present govt in India don't wish to engage with Pakistan on economy, social, political, military levels. 2. They don't want friendship and they don't want war. 3. India isn't interested in Af-Pak region. 4. India wants to build better economic relations with Afghanistan and it is scaling up Chhabhar port to trade with Afghanistan, Central asia. It already build the road that connect Afghanistan to the Irani port city. 5. India is scaling down SAARC. There is no other plan for regional connectivity minus SAARC power grid 6. India is looking to engage with BIMSTEC ( Bhutan, Nepal, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Thailand, Cambodia) & connect to South east asia. 7. India's foreign policy revolve around: US, Russia, China, Japan & Its Neighborhood minus Pakistan.

If two countries are not friend then it doesn't mean they should fight war. 1. India Pakistan relations will remain cold 2. There will be no talks until both sides address each other concerns. 3. Pakistan govt is under too much pressure and it has given up control of foreign policy to army 4. Modi govt is not keen to engage talks with current Pakistan dispensation. Pakistan too doesn't need India. It have its own internal taliban mess, economic and social problem. Similarly India have similar internal situations. Both country should focus internally for a decade.

@sandeep THAT, if true, says how not a 'leader' Mr Modi is. LEADERS are able to, and must be able to overlook short-term matters, grasp it 'like a man', not throw a 'tantrum' like Mr Modi did.

Parliamentarian from Pakistan did not know if they had a job when they go back. That is the current political situation in Pakistan. In this circumstances, expecting any progress would be surprise. One positive outcome is there was no negative talk about each other.

@Khan-Haqiqi - Sir, have you seen what your country has become as a result of narrow mindedness? Truth be told, most Indians don't want to think about or care about Pakistan. At one time Pakistan may have been a factor in Indian politics. Now it is a tertiary issue at best. People are more concerned with whether they have jobs or enough to eat. This is as it should be.

If your enemy hates you(which normal), you must be doing something good for yourself.More over leader of a foreign nation does not contest election in a foreign country.

What? Modi is not liked in pakistan? Are you sure? What to do now? This is a matter of critical importance. Should be immediately forwarded to Indian Govt. How will Modi function now? How? How?

With more Indians present here on a Pakistani news site, we can see how much the Indians are interested in Pakistan and to create their image here. Then interestingly they say that Modi and Indians don’t care about Pakistan. What else is the definition of hypocrisy?

India and Pakistan should focus on trade and other disputes than talking about kashmir.In fact trade has a potential to grow beyond $10 billion , which currently hovers around $3 billion. Many countries who have territorial disputes like Kashmir have managed to bring peace and sanity by trade and intra dependence. Pakistan's insistence on Kashmir first and everything later , is nothing but frustrating.

No one cares in India about what Pakistanis think of the Indian PM

Emboldened by his landslide victory, Nawaz Sharif tried to improve relations with India till his power base was weakened by IK with tacit support from Army. Naturally, Nawaz went aggressive on India to shore up support among Pakistanis. Congress government (would have) tolerated it, but Modi would never tolerate as any leniency towards Pakistan would tarnish his image among Indians. Also, Indians have enough doubts on the ability of PM Sharif in developing relations or implement any agreements such as Non Discriminatory Access to India. Hence, who should India now talk to in Pakistan? A weakened PM or ever strong Army chief ?

@PK if his image goes up in Pakistan his image will certainly go down inindia

@Khan-Haqiqi You can see only other side of Indians obsessed with Pakistan, what about the three major wars, Pakistan started and a short Kargil war, hijacking of Indian Airlines IC-184 to Kandahar, Afghanistan. 27/11 Mumbai attacks.

Pakistan army must stop controlling, meddling, the civilian government, then only things will improve.

Who should India talk with in Pakistan Nawaz or General Raheel as Afghanistan's President or Americans are finding General Raheel the real source of power.India has not the privilege to engage with Pakistan army directly and Nawaz after Imran Khan agitation has become toothless.

@Khan-Haqiqi Then whydo you live with Indians ?

Then why do you live with Indians ?

@Ahmed USA - I guess, we are separated long time back and don't think, if Pakistan goes down, India will also go down. India is much stronger and its in Pakistans interest to work with India for the upliftment of its poor.

@Khan-Haqiqi talk about being biased

@Love Pakistan India has 20 times Internet users as compared to pakistan. So please scale the no then compare

@Khan-Haqiqi I think thats not a fair conclusion. In my experience, that both Indians and Pakistanis are fed (via their media) a healthy dose of false stereotypes about the other UNTIL they meet. Indians are different from India, and Pakistanis are different from Pakistan. Thats what one learns when they meet the other.

@sam well said. Is Mani Shankar Aiyar part of any ":Committee" whose members "Come" , "Meet", Have "Tea" and go? Communication to dispel misgivings shall take place at various levels right from a. Governments B. Top rung leaders of both countries c. Citizens of both countries. What Dawn achieves is the third one. Let dialogues take place and one day wisdowm will dawn on people. History has enough examples ...France and Britain, East Germany and West Germany etc who were once fierce enemies have come together now.

@Ahmed USA Exactly- And i feel sorry for the intellectual destitution of those people on both sides who still think that a major catastrophe of misfortune in one will not spill over into the other. We cant insulate ourselves from each other.

I think people need to understand few parameters more correctly to talk hastily on the relationship of India and Pakistan. First is about the purpose of the dialogue, if someone thinks all territorial disputes will be resolved in a day than good luck to this thinking. Before coming to territorial arguments a lot needs to be corrected and will take at least a decade long time to establish the trust deficit. Secondly, the priorities of respective civilian governments are far different than each other. NS is moreover tied with the internal situation created by TTP, dharnas by IK and a power struggle with the establishments. So, he has very little room to create any hopes, mere goodwill talks and trips are not sufficient Such expressions can create a good start but any of other factors like extremism or LOC tension can easily overshadow. Civilian government must take control of the foreign relations of the country else there is very little point to discuss much with them. In India at this very moment in general economic priorities are very important and also any terror related incidents are not easily accepted by the public. In case of this relation, I hear a lot from many of those TV commentators and pundits about treating Pakistan equally and respectfully. I don't really understand the word equal in this context as I don't think Saudis or Americans or Chinese etc. may be treating them as equal partner. I don't want to compare either India with those countries as we have our own work to do to solve our own issues. But the problem here is we don't have compete on unequal terms, India is not as equal as Pakistan, Bangldesh or Lanks and similarly Pakistan is not as equal as Nepal, Bhutan etc. So, pragmatic solution has to be found to give enough respect to perspectives of both sides and not getting holed up in a status quo. India and China re not equal but they have a pragmatic relationship which continues okay if not ideal. In very current situation, new Indian government is connecting with most of the world powers including Japan, China, USA, Russia, Australia etc. The aim here looks to connect with world and become an economically better placed country. So, if all Saarc countries can be partners in this journey than will be a great journey ahead.

The message is very clear. no more cosmetic talks which doesn't yield any tangible result. Talks and terrorist attack can not happen together. Identify a clear cut agenda which can be achieved by both nation. Every issue has to be discussed and allow it to reach its logical end. If Pakistan want to utilise the economic opportunity available in Asia, there must be a clear vision and direction. Both country share a common culture and history. Whole world was trying to find a route to our nation and trying to get a share of our economic prosperity till 17.5 century. Every one was trying to migrate to our country. Now we got an opportunity to bring those golden period. Pakistan elite and the Military junta must rethink and focus our energy on development and coexistence with India. Let us don't forget, we are able to live together and make friendship with each other in countries where ever we migrated.

@Ahmed USA "conjoined twins" not really. May be estranged brothers. Both countries have chosen and are moving in different paths.

1) this was clearly not an official visit since official talks are at a stop 2) the hostt Manishankar Aiyar is a Modi baitor and an elitist who had said that Modi could not become PM but would be allowed to sell tea at Congress convention. Aiyar's popularity can be noted by the fact that in the most recent elections 3 other candidates in his constituency polled more than him and he lost his deposit. 3) it is also not in good taste for a visiting legislator to criticize the host country's popularly elected PM. The notion that this type of people to people contact can improve relations is flawed. 4) rather than worrying about Modi's image in Pakistan, he should worry about Nawaz Sharif's image in Pakistan. Modi needs to win elections in India not Pakistan.

@Tamza if Modi were the kind to throw a tantrum, he would have not gone to US which had denied him a visa for many years, but he is a leader who puts national interest first. The fact that India signed so many pacts with Russia despite US sanctions against Russia says that he does not get bullied by any country and does what is in India's best interest. Also if he had an ego, his first foreign visit would have been to US not Bhutan. In fact he has visited Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar befor visiting US and China. That tells you that he is serious about neighborhood first policy. But keeping quiet when civilians are shot across international borders is not very leaderlike.

Both counties and in fact the population of the two have serious reservations about each other. Its obvious from the comments below. Do we have to visit each other. I would say no. The world is way bigger than the sizes of the two countries and both could find somwwhere else to talk and experience cultural exchange. Live in peace and ignore each other!!! Fair solution.

@Khan-Haqiqi and do you have any opinion on Pakistanis attitudes and behaviors or do you have blinders on.

arrogance does'nt benefit anyone it's only destructive the sooner you get rid of it the better there is a very good thing about bad days that they too don't last forever so my Pakistan too will see good days but I sincerely wish that success at that time doesn't turn us into a rude host

@Ahmed USA Not necessarily. It will bring the region down but the others will not stand with Pakistan. China has a vested interest in using pakistan to ferment trouble in India. Pakistan lets outsiders use it to destroy itself

@Ahmed USA we share nothing in common other than a border

this mani shanker iyer should go settle in pakistan

@Khan-Haqiqi same for pakistanis

@Ahmed USA UN has better work to do then get involved in pak india mess which they themselves cant sort it out

@Ahmed USA The only sensible thing UN can do is tear UN resolutions on kashmir

@Khan-Haqiqi: Did you ever read Pakistani school text books?