ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will be sending another letter to his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh, reiterating an earlier invite to visit Pakistan while renewing his resolve for peace and constructive engagement with India.
The letter this time will be carried by PM’s Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs, Tariq Fatemi, who will be travelling with Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to India on Thursday. The letter, yet another peace overture by Nawaz Sharif, will be presented to the Indian premier Friday evening when the two are slated to call on him, informed sources told The Nation on Monday.
The PML-N government is very keen that Manmohan comes to Pakistan before the general elections in India next year May. Apparently Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s keenness on this score was conveyed to the Indian Prime Minister last month as well when Advisor on National Security and Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz, met him in New Delhi.
Pakistan’s outgoing High Commissioner in New Delhi Salman Bashir has also been directed to stay on for the Chief Minister’s visit. In India importance is being attached to Shahbaz Sharif’s visit as he is considered the most powerful figure in the ruling PML-N party after Nawaz Sharif.
Pakistan’s envoy Salman Bashir, who said last week he saw “light at the end of the tunnel” in diplomatic relations, will also be present during the meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday.
According to sources PM’s key cabinet member Khawaja Asif, who holds the water and power portfolio with additional charge of defence, and minister of state for Privatization, Khurram Dastagir Khan, will also be accompanying the Punjab chief minister on his first visit to India in the present term. This could mean some cooperation in the power and economic sectors may be explored during the visit. 
Shahbaz Sharif is visiting India on the invitation of Indian Punjab Chief Minister to be the chief guest at the World Kabbadi Championship finals in Ludhiana on Saturday.
Prime Ministers of the two countries have exchanged more than half a dozen letters since the PML-N won the May 11 elections in Pakistan. Although the two leaders have only met once in New York on the sidelines of UNGA in September they have been in touch with each other on relatively regular basis through exchange of letters, over the phone and through their special emissaries. Even when tensions peaked between the two neighbouring countries after the August 6 LoC flare-up, channels of communication remained open at the highest political level.
While there are no signs of immediate resumption of the Pakistan-India composite dialogue which is an integral part of the peace process, calm has prevailed on the LoC since the two leaders last met in New York on September 29. Apparently back-channel contacts and some quiet diplomacy helped lower the tensions.
High-level diplomatic and political interaction between Pakistan and India on the sidelines of several multilateral events since July have generated goodwill and cordiality even if they have not yielded substantive progress on any of the bilateral issues.