In the years since the Mumbai attacks, some efforts have been made to bring bilateral relations out of the deep freeze.
Direct trade has been increasing steadily and both countries have made efforts to increase trade across their land border.
At the Wagah-Attari land border in Punjab, India has opened a huge customs depot and warehouses that can handle more than 600 trucks a day from Pakistan.
Two-way trade direct between India and Pakistan totals around $2 billion, but a large chunk of the trade is channeled through Dubai, Hong Kong or Singapore.
Earlier this month, India and Pakistan signed an agreement that makes it easier for business travelers to get visas. People aged over 65 also will be entitled to get visas “on arrival.”
Members of families divided during Britain's partition of the subcontinent, along with tourists and religious pilgrims, are also supposed to get quick visas.
“When Indians enter Pakistan and when Pakistanis enter India, they should feel like they are coming home,” Rehman Malik, Pakistan's interior minister, said during a visit to New Delhi two weeks ago when the two sides signed the visa agreement.
India has issued more than 3,000 visas to Pakistanis for the cricket matches.
But analysts caution that policy makers in India should not get carried away by the ‘friendly neighbor' rhetoric.
