If the year-end turned out well for India-Pakistan relations, 2016 holds greater prospects.
After Prime Minister Narendra Modi's surprise visit to Lahore, he is set to meet his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in the Swiss city of Davos, on the margins of the World Economic Forum between January 20 and 23.
This is the third meeting between the two leaders in less than two months – the first being in Paris. It will take place a few days after the meeting of the foreign secretaries in Islamabad on January 15.
Both prime ministers will have another opportunity to meet in Washington in March. US president Barack Obama has invited both the leaders for the Nuclear Security Summit to be held on March 31 and April 1.
Experts here believe that the frequent summit meetings are designed to put pressure on bureaucrats to carve out a road map for peace, ahead of Modi's tete-a tete in Islamabad with Sharif in September, on the sidelines of the SAARC summit.
Insiders believe that a combination of factors pushed the Modi government into chalking a new line, cloaked in optics and symbolism.
Western nudges, fears of extremism in South Asia, security situation in Kashmir, repeated requests by J&K chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and worries of disruptions to a thaw – all played a part.
Also, after repeated setbacks, the US and Russia appear to have concluded that the recent peace attempts between the Afghan government and the Taliban represent the last opportunity for a resolution in Afghanistan.
Given Pakistan's centrality in bringing the Taliban to the negotiating table, the US has, for weeks, been nudging New Delhi and Islamabad to resume dialogue, last suspended in 2013.
US president Barack Obama, in October and November, had hosted both Nawaz Sharif and his army chief Raheel Sharif. The US secured an assurance from both that they were keen on avoiding exacerbation of tensions with India.
While welcoming Modi's diplomatic outreach, the J&K CM recalls that during his October 15 meeting with Modi, he had conveyed to the latter that development and success of his PDP-BJP coalition was linked to peace with Pakistan.
"I was assured that an effort was on," he said.
Pakistan's recent appointment of a former army general, Naseer Khan Janjua, as its national security adviser, has also opened a fresh window for early negotiations on terrorism and cross-border violence.
"That the Pakistan NSA represents the views of his military establishment is good because the shadow-boxing is over," said former Indian high commissioner to Pakistan G Parthasarathy.
The "mother of all coups" – Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar described Modi's December 25 visit to Lahore – also had an important fall-out.
Modi's optics have succeeded in convincing Pakistani leaders once again that a hardline BJP was more decisive than the Congress.
Congress prime ministers, right from Rajiv Gandhi to Narasimha Rao to Manmohan Singh, despite having agreed to settle issues like Siachen and Jammu and Kashmir, backed out because of indecision.
Ministry of External Affairs officials concede that what Modi had achieved was something Manmohan had dreamt of for a decade, but was not allowed by his own party – the Congress.
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