Relations between India and Pakistan have moved to qualitatively new levels since Indian Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee extended his hand of friendship to Pakistan on April 18. 

With a positive response coming from Pakistani Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, the two sides moved in the direction of first restoring full diplomatic ties. Shiv Shankar Menon, India's Ambassador to China and Aziz Ahmed Khan, an old India hand and Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman, took charge of their respective diplomatic missions in Islamabad and New Delhi.

On July 11, the Delhi-Lahore bus service was re-started and brought with it a flood of emotions from people on both sides.

Noor, a 2-year-old Pakistani baby with a heart ailment, earned love and affection from all over India. Weeks later, after successful surgery in Bangalore, south India, she returned to Pakistan with her grateful and happy parents.

India quickly announced it would offer medical treatment to 20 ailing Pakistani children and meet all costs. The Indian Government later announced another 20 children would be similarly treated.

Choosing to adopt a step-by-step approach aimed first at enhancing people-to-people contacts rather than go in for summit-level talks, India followed up its peace initiatives with proposals announced on October 22.

These include restoration of cricket matches and other sporting links, bus service between Srinagar in India-controlled Kashmir and Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, bus or rail link between Khokrapar in Rajasthan of India and Munnabao in Sindh province of Pakistan, issuance of visas in cities other than the two capitals, permitting citizens above 65 years of age to cross Wagah border on foot and launching of a ferry service between the port cities of Mumbai, India and Karachi, Pakistan.

Indo-Pakistani relations improved further when the two nations' respective armies agreed to stop firing across the border as of midnight November 25. The move marked the first full and formal ceasefire between the two sides since 1989.

At present Indian Airlines and Pakistan International Airlines are planning to resume their flights in the new year which were suspended in the aftermath of a terrorist attack on Parliament on December 13, 2001.

This paves the way for Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee to fly directly to Islamabad for the January 4-6 South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit instead of taking a long detour.

(China Daily December 31, 2003)