Pak media lauds Modi-Sharif meeting, calls it an 'ice-breaker' for bilateral relations

Islamabad: Pakistani media reacted positively to the brief meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in Paris, describing it as “ice-breaker” which will lead towards easing of tension. The two leaders had an unscheduled meeting and a brief chat in Paris. Sharif later told media that the interaction was a “good” one. Dawn reported that Modi took the initiative as finding Sharif alone he walked up to him and they had a warm handshake as they sat for an engaging short chat. [caption id=“attachment_2528526” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File photo. Image courtesy: PTI[/caption] Quoting a Pakistani official present at the meeting, the paper said, “For optics, it looked like PM Modi was more keen on talking and since he was the one who approached our PM, then may be the India-Pak dialogue might just get back on track, given the recent halt in talks.” The Nation in its front page headline ‘Pak-India climate change in Paris?’ wrote: “The prime ministers of Pakistan and India met and shook hands at the climate change summit on Monday, igniting hopes for melting of ice between the two nuclear neighbors.” The paper said that in the absence of details of talks and no chance of any meeting sooner, it was difficult to know the exact impact of the meeting but it was good to see them met after a long time. The News International said that the two leaders “warmly” shook hands as “Narendra Modi pleasantly approached Nawaz Sharif and had a brief meeting with him.” “Both the leaders appeared to be in a friendly mood and there seemed great warmth during their interaction while sitting on the same sofa,” it added. The Express Tribune carried the headline as ‘Ice melts as Nawaz Modi shake hands’ on the front page and reported that when the world leaders were struggling to hammer a deal on climate change, the ice melted on Pakistan’s ties with India due to meeting between the two leaders. The TV news channels also positively commented on the meeting and repeatedly ran it on the top of hourly news. The Urdu newspapers also ran the news on the front page with encouraging comments. The meeting was first between the two leaders after July when they met in the Russian city of Ufa and agreed that their National Security Advisors would meet. However, the NSA-level meeting did not take place amidst a blame game between the two countries. PTI