Nawaz Sharif’s participation in Narendra Modi’s inauguration may be the first time a Pakistani prime minister has attended such celebrations in India, but it is just one of many occasions that have been billed as an opportunity for laying the foundations of a new relationship between India and Pakistan.
In 1950, Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan travelled to Delhi and signed the Liaquat-Nehru pact, which was expected to resolve the issues created by the violent Partition of 1947 that gave birth to Pakistan. But the optimism about the agreement died within a year with the assassination of its Pakistani signatory. Pakistan went through several years of political instability while the army gained influence in policymaking. Read more