Siddiqa: The question is, how will the two countries connect with each other? To connect with Pakistan, India will have to learn to be the big country, which it is. There are times when India does not seem to have the vision of being the larger state. For Pakistan, it is a matter of learning India is today the friendliest State in the neighbourhood.

Nayar: Previously, Pakistanis weren't looking beyond Kashmir. But, in these long years, Pakistanis have realised India cannot give Kashmir on religious grounds. While thinking of the Kashmir issue, Indians have to look after Muslims in the rest of the country.

I believe Pakistanis have a stake in Indian secularism. They want the welfare of Indian Muslims. I think we should return to a time before 1965, when borders were soft, there were free visas and policing of people didn't exist. We have no choice but to have good relations with Pakistan. When we have friction with Pakistan, Muslims in India feel the heat and suffer.

What is lacking between the two countries?

Siddiqa: What they lack is communication and a vision for the South Asian region. South Asia can become more significant than what it is today, with both countries learning to live with each other. Without mutual cooperation, neither can emerge as a power to reckon with.

Nayar: It is well known but still difficult to absorb that both countries are unable to get over their past. We couldn't get over our past because one million people were killed and 20 million uprooted. Even history can't forget it. Moreover, the bureaucracy on both sides didn't allow us to proceed.

Photograph: Pakistani Rangers and Indian Border Security Force troopers hold their flags during a flag lowering ceremony at the Wagah border. Photograph: Arif Ali/AFP/Getty Images Also read: 'Introspect why the educated Muslim is taking to violence'

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