Islamabad: India and Pakistan should resume dialogue and work out their difference, a Pakistani daily said on Friday.
The News International said in an editorial that the short phone call made by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif, to greet him on Ramadan and at the same time announce the release of Pakistani fishermen detained in India, "would in ordinary times have been seen as nothing more than a mere formality".
"But these are not ordinary times.
"In fact, they are far from ordinary and have been since relations between India and Pakistan began to deteriorate sharply last year with India angered by Pakistan's contacts with Hurriyat leaders in Kashmir, skirmishes along the Line of Control further damaging trust and a host of particularly hostile statements from Indian ministers making it clear that the BJP-led government had little sympathies for Pakistan and no real desire to improve ties," the daily said.
The daily said Modi's call "seems to have been intended to indicate that New Delhi did indeed want some kind of dialogue with Pakistan".
"Nawaz Sharif has also held out a hand of friendship by immediately offering to release all Indian fishermen in Pakistan. But things are complicated."
The editorial went on to say that it "will take a great deal of effort to bring back the calm the region needs after the wave of hysteria released over the past few months by senior members of the Indian government".
"Rebuilding trust after it has been damaged so badly is always delicate. The phone call is significant in that any kind of contact between the leaders of the two countries is, at this time, a step forward," it said and added: "But on its own, it is not enough."
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