First up, from Greater Kashmir:
"Please come, you are our guest. Please come and have tea with me." This is what Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said when his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi called him from Kabul and asked if he could halt in Lahore on his way home.
Meanwhile, from the Thompson Reuters Foundation:
Behind the scenes, Pakistan's military helped revive talks with India
The quiet involvement of Pakistan's powerful military in its foreign policy this year paved the way for reviving a stalled dialogue with India, officials said, a thaw leading to the first visit to Pakistan by an Indian premier in almost 12 years.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's surprise trip to meet Pakistani premier Nawaz Sharif on Friday raised hopes that stop-and-start negotiations between the nuclear-armed neighbours might finally mean progress after more than 65 years of hostility.
Aides say the meeting was arranged directly between the two prime ministers on just a few hours' notice when Modi called to wish 66-year-old Sharif a happy birthday.
But even before Modi arrived in the eastern city of Lahore, relations between the nuclear-armed rivals had begun to thaw, with a resumption of dialogue already in the offing.
On Friday, Modi and Sharif agreed that their foreign secretaries would meet in mid-January to restart talks....MORE
