Pakistan-India bilateral relations remained frozen for the fourth year over the vexed Kashmir issue but analysts hope the strained ties could be repaired if Nawaz Sharif becomes the prime minister for a record fourth time in the general elections in February in the absence of his main challenger Imran Khan who is in jail in multiple cases.
It also noted that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India is more likely than in the past to respond with military force to Pakistani provocations.
As Pakistani warplanes conducted sorties for the second straight day, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Tuesday said the two countries cannot afford tension along their border. "Nobody wants tensions on the borders and we are moving responsibly and with caution," Gilani told reporters on the sidelines of an official ceremony in Islamabad.
Rehan Butt, Pakistan's assistant coach believes that India and Pakistan should play more matches.
Violating the ceasefire again, Pakistani troops targeted several Indian positions in the Naushera sector of Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir.
In its annual threat assessment presented before the Senate Armed Services Committee during a Congressional hearing on Tuesday, the US intelligence community said the expanded military posture by both India and China along the disputed border elevates the risk of armed confrontation between the two nuclear powers that might involve direct threats to US persons and interests and calls for America's intervention.
"I think it's absolutely essential for the two countries to be able to come together and seriously discuss their problems, and I think it's essential that human rights are fully respected in all territories that you mentioned," Guterres said during his press briefing on Thursday.
'Traditionally, the US tried to tamp down tensions whenever a crisis situation arose and deputed officials from Washington to travel to Delhi to counsel restraint.' 'This time around, no US envoy flew down to Delhi -- not even when tensions spiked and a flashpoint was reached last week,' points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The United States, the United Nations and the European Union have welcomed the announcement by the militaries of India and Pakistan to strictly observe all agreements on ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir and other sectors, and hoped that it would lead to greater peace and stability in South Asia.
Imran Khan, who is also the patron-in-chief of the country's cricket board, said it will not be conducive to play bilateral cricket at present.
No date of resumption of services has been fixed so far, they said.
Trump, addressing reporters at the UN on Wednesday, said he has had "very productive conversations" with leaders of India and Pakistan on the margins of the UN General Assembly. "With respect to Pakistan and India, we talked about Kashmir. Whatever help I can be, I said, I offered, whether it's arbitration or mediation or whatever it has to be."
'We strongly object to raising the internal issue of India here and we also reject the politicisation of this forum'
The official said that US President Trump, during his meeting with Modi in France will likely want to hear how he intends to calm regional tensions in the aftermath of his decisions on Kashmir.
Barely a week after Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan broke the deadlock and decided to re-engage, the two countries were back to a blame game over ceasefire violations with both sides lodging protest with each other.
India and Pakistan have agreed to strictly observe all agreements on ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) and other sectors, according to a joint statement on Thursday.
'A narrative is needed that captures the reality in Pakistan objectively and more fully'
Rising political tension has adversely affected the bilateral sporting ties between India and Pakistan but newly-elected FIH chief Narinder Batra on Saturday said the two nations will have to honour their international commitments. The tension at the border has cast a shadow over Pakistan's participation in the next month's FIH Junior World Cup in Lucknow but Batra's comments make it clear that the two neighbours are set to clash against each other on Indian soil.
Indian tennis star Sania Mirza on Wednesday slammed the "cringeworthy" television advertisements hyping the much-awaited World Cup match between India and Pakistan.
Tharoor's statement came just ahead of the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA)'s a crucial decision on whether India should play Pakistan in the 2019 ICC World Cup in the wake of Pulwama terror attack.
Endorsing parleys between Indian and Pakistan, the US has said that it is in the interest of the two South Asian neighbours to resolve their differences mutually through dialogue.
The International Hockey Federation (FIH) is planning to have India and Pakistan play their home and away matches in Europe if the arch-rivals face off in the Olympic qualifying tournament for a berth at the 2020 Tokyo Games.
US refrained to make any comment on India's decision to not to attend the SAARC Summit in Islamabad.
The Old Trafford cricket ground had a festive feel with fans from both sides wearing replica jerseys, colourful headgear and sounding hooters as they began trooping in.
During the meeting, Pakistan was expected to highlight concerns about the three Indian hydro projects being built on the rivers flowing to Pakistan.
With no let up in ceasefire violations by Pakistan along the LoC and the International Border, the Indian Director General of Military Operation on Tuesday spoke to his Pakistani counterpart and is understood to have conveyed India's strong concerns over it.
Pakistan has said it will encourage the process of composite dialogue with India 'to reduce tensions and resolve all outstanding issues' between the two neighbouring countries.In a joint statement issued at the end of formal talks between visiting Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and United States President George W Bush on Monday, the two sides said that the Pakistan-India composite dialogue process will be encouraged "to reduce tensions and build trust".
Pakistan will allow 5,000 Indian pilgrims to visit the gurdwara every day using the planned corridor, and the numbers could be more on special occasions.
The agreement follows claims and counter-claims by the two countries about harassment of each other's diplomats.
The tensions along the Line of Control between India and Pakistan were discussed at a high-level meeting in the Prime Minister's Office where Defence Secretary Shashikant Sharma briefed about the situation in New Delhi.
Top military commanders of India and Pakistan on Wednesday agreed not to allow escalation of tensions along the Line of Control, with the Pakistan Army asking its troops to observe the ceasefire strictly and exercise restraint.
The firing between Indian and Pakistani troops across the Line of Control stopped early on Tuesday after continuing for 16 hours. The body of a soldier from the Rajput Regiment, who was killed in the incident, was recovered.The director general of military operations of the two countries spoke to each other on Monday, in the wake of the firing incident, which violated the November 2003 ceasefire along the Line of Control.There were reports that four Pakistanis were killed.
In their first meeting after the Kargil war, the Indian Director Generals of Military Operations will on Tuesday cross over to the Pakistani side of the Wagah border to meet his counterpart to discuss ways of ensuring ceasefire on the LoC and is expected to register his protest over the cross-border raids.
The Indo-Pak border situation has "improved" but suspicions continue to run deeper between the two countries, according to influential US Senator John Kerry, who is a key foreign policy aide to President Barack Obama.
"Obviously, these are two nuclear powers. Whenever you are dealing with terrorism in countries that are nuclear powers, it is always -- it creates a heightened concern. Obviously, the Pakistani government has enormous challenges -- financially, politically, from terrorists," US Defence Department Spokesman Geoff Morrell said. "We see no reason at this point to have any concern with regards to the security of either country's arsenal," he added.
In view of the unprovoked firing by the Pakistani army killing two Indian soldiers, the United States hoped that the two neighbours would work together to maintain peace and stability in the region.
The resolution expressed concerns over the detention of Hurriyat leaders and human rights activists and urged the Indian government to release them.
India and Pakistan on Thursday exchanged lists of their nuclear installations under an agreement aimed at preventing attacks on each other's atomic facilities.
Talks between the two sides were last held in December, 2013, in Lahore.
'The general perspective -- certainly on Capitol Hill and Congress -- the love for India, the positive feeling for India still focuses on India as a democracy.' 'The more that Indian democracy and its pluralistic features is called into question by Indians, the more that same debate will replay back here.'
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