Timeline
Indo-Pak Timeline
Date: October 11, 2013
August 14: Pakistan gains independence from the British Empire
August 15: India gains independence from the British Empire
October: Tribesmen from the NWFP province in Pakistan invade Kashmir
Pakistan Army is summoned to protect Pakistan’s borders. Fighting continues between Pakistan troops and Indian armed forces.
January 1: UN Ceasefire in Kashmir
Jammu and Kashmir’s accession to India is ratified by the state’s constituent assembly
Following the 1962 Sino-Indian war, India and Pakistan held talks under the auspices of Britain and the US in an attempt to resolve their differences over Kashmir, but without success
April: Clash between border patrols erupted into fighting in the Rann of Kutch. Pakistan claims victory after India withdraws.
August: Pakistan launched a covert offensive across the ceasefire line into the Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir. In early September, India retaliated by crossing the international border at Lahore. After three weeks, both India and Pakistan agreed to a UN-sponsored ceasefire.
January: Tashkent Declaration is signed between India and Pakistan
December: India invades East Pakistan to lend support to the people of the region. Pakistan surrenders in war, Bangladesh is formed.
July: Simla Accord is signed between India and Pakistan
Kashmir state government reached an accord with the Indian Government, which affirmed its status as “a constituent unit of the union of India”. Pakistan rejected the accord.
May 18: India detonates first nuclear device.
December 31: Agreement on the Prohibition of Attack Against Nuclear Installations and Facilities signed in Islamabad.
Armed resistance to Indian rule began in the Kashmir valley.
April 6: Agreement on Advance Notification on Military Exercises, Maneuvers and Troop Movements signed in New Delhi. Full Text
Agreement on Prevention of Airspace Violations and for Permitting Overflights and Landings by Military Aircraft signed in New Delhi. Full Text
January 1: India and Pakistan exchange lists of their nuclear installations and facilities under the 1988 agreement on Prohibition of Attack Against Nuclear Installations and Facilities. Full Text
August 19, 1992: Joint Declaration on the Complete Prohibition of Chemical Weapons concluded in New Delhi. Full Text
January 1, 1993 – 1999: Even during a low point in relations, both countries exchange lists of their nuclear installations and facilities on the first of every year.
Pakistani and Indian military officers met on the Line of Control dividing the state of Jammu and Kashmir to ease tension after clashes.
May 11: India conducts tests of two nuclear devices.
May 13: India conducts tests of three nuclear devices.
May 28: Pakistan conducts six underground nuclear tests.
May 30: Pakistan conducts one underground nuclear test.
May 11: India conducts tests of two nuclear devices.
May 13: India conducts tests of three nuclear devices.
May 28: Pakistan conducts six underground nuclear tests.
May 30: Pakistan conducts one underground nuclear test.
February
February 20: Bus service between New Delhi and Lahore initiated by Prime Minister Atul Vajpayee. [More…
February: Memorandum of understanding reached during Indian Prime Minister Atul Vajpayee’s historic visit to Pakistan.
December
December 13: Terrorists attack Indian Parliament building, 14 people are killed in the attack. India blames Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba for the attack, says they were backed by elements from Pakistani government.
December 20: India moves troops to Kashmir and LoC in Indian Punjab.
Pakistan also deploys troops on LoC in response to Indian military deployment.
January
January: India deploys 500,000 troops and three armored divisions on LoC, Pakistan deploys 120,000 troops.
January 12: President Musharraf says Pakistan will combat extremism on its own soil, however Pakistan has a right to Kashmir.
May
May 26: India announces resumption of Delhi-Lahore bus service and release of 70 Pakistani fishermen and 60 civilian prisoners.
Septermber
September 25: Musharraf calls for a ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) at the UN General Assembly in New York.
November
November 25: India and Pakistan implement a formal ceasefire along the International Border and the Actual Ground Position Line in Jammu and Kashmir at midnight.
January
January 1: Air links between the two countries resume.
January 1: Both countries exchange the list of their nuclear installations and facilities.
January 4-6: Vajpayee and Musharraf hold direct talks on January 5 at the 12th SAARC summit in Islamabad.
January 15: Passenger and freight rail service resumes between Attari and Lahore.
February
February 17-18: Pakistani and Indian Foreign Secretaries meet in Murree, Pakistan for May-June preparatory talks.
February 20: First flag meeting between Indian and Pakistani army units in three years takes place in Chorbat La sector in India.
February, 2004: India and Pakistan agree on a five-point agenda to initiate dialogue process.
March
March 10-April 18: Indian cricket team travels to Pakistan for a historic cricket series, the first at a non-neutral site since 1989.
June
June 15-16: Meeting of narcotics officials in Islamabad where both parties agree to share information and adopt a coordinated strategy to prevent drug trafficking and smuggling between the two countries.
June 20-21: Foreign Ministers of both countries meet at the Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) meeting in China where they reaffirm their intention to open both countries’ consulates in Karachi and Bombay.
June 26-27: Meeting of Foreign Secretaries in New Delhi when they discuss dialogue on Peace and Security and Jammu and Kashmir.
June 29-July 2: Foreign Ministers of both countries meet at the ASEAN Regional forum in Jakarta where Pakistan is formally accepted as a member of the ARF after India drops its objections.
July
July 20-21: Foreign Ministers of both countries meet at the SAARC Council of Ministers meeting in Islamabad.
August
August 9: Both countries carry out an exchange of six prisoners of war at the Wagah border post.
August 11-12: Meeting of commerce secretaries in Islamabad to discuss dialogue on economic and commercial cooperation. Both sides agree to promote bilateral trade ties and enhance cooperation in various sectors.
August 31: India and Pakistan exchange 55 prisoners along the Wagah border crossing.
September
September 8: Meeting of Foreign Ministers in Delhi where the two sides agree on thirteen points, and indicating willingness for a ‘road map’ for peace process.
September 19: India announces it will ease visa rules for visiting Pakistani journalists, doctors and academics.
September 24: President Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh meet for talks in New York on the occasion of the United Nations General Assembly.
October
October 4-11: Pakistani journalists visit Jammu and Kashmir.
October 11-14: Biannual meeting between Indian Border Security Forces and Pakistani Rangers in Chandigarh at which there is an agreement on nine areas. They also agree that local commanders meet more frequently to resolve local problems.
November
November 9: Twenty-five Pakistani prisoners handed over by India at the Wagah border crossing.
November 16: On the eve of a visit to Jammu and Kashmir, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announces to reduce the deployment of troops.
November 21: Over 4,000 Indian Sikh pilgrims arrive for a visit to religious sites in Pakistan.
November 23: Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz travels to India for the first time as Chairperson of SARRC.
December
December 14-15: Indian and Pakistani delegations hold expert level talks on Nuclear CBMs in Islamabad. Expert level talks on Conventional CBMs held on December 15th.
January
January 1: Both countries exchange lists of nuclear installations and facilities.
January 6: Pakistan releases 266 Indian fishermen arrested in 2004.
February
February 16-17: Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh visits Islamabad.
October
October 3: Signing of an agreement on advance notification of ballistic missile tests.
January
January 1: India and Pakistan exchange lists of their respective nuclear installations and facilities.
February
February 7: India redeploys 5000 troops from Jammu and Kashmir citing “improvement” in situation.
May
May 3: India and Pakistan reach an agreement to revive trade in Kashmir.
May 24: India and Pakistan fail to reach an agreement to withdraw troops from the Siachen Glacier.
September
September 16: President Musharraf and Prime Minister Singh agree to “put in place an India-Pakistan anti-terrorism institutional mechanism to indentify and implement counter-terrorism initiatives and investigations.” [Joint Statement] [More… ]
February
18 February: Samjhauta Express, the train service between India and Pakistan is bombed near Panipat, north of New Delhi. 68 people were killed in the fire and dozens injured.
October
October 19: Pakistan and India hold the Fifth Round of talks to review nuclear and missile related CBMs as part of the Composite Dialogue process. The second round of the Joint Anti-Terrorism Mechanism (JATM) was held the following week.
April
April 24: India joins a signed a framework agreement with Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan on a $7.6 billion gas pipeline project. The line will be 1,680-km Turkemenistan -Afghanistan- Pakistan -India (TAPI), supply 3.2 billion cubic feet per day (90 MMSCMD) and gas flows are expected from 2015. Pakistan and India have agreed to share equally in the gas volume.
May
May 21: The Foreign Ministers of India and Pakistan agree to a series of Kashmir-specific CBMs, including a triple-entry permit to facilitate crossing the Line of Control.
The two ministers also agree to provide consular access to prisoners in each others’ countries.
September
September 25: Pakistani President Zardari and Indian Prime Minister Singh formally announced the opening of several trade routes between the two countries. The Wagah-Atari road link and the Khokrapar-Munnabao rail link will both be opened to trade, as will the cross-LoC Srinagar-Muzaffarabad and Poonch-Rawalakot roads.
September
September 25: Pakistani President Zardari and Indian Prime Minister Singh formally announced the opening of several trade routes between the two countries. The Wagah-Atari road link and the Khokrapar-Munnabao rail link will both be opened to trade, as will the cross-LoC Srinagar-Muzaffarabad and Poonch-Rawalakot roads.
October
October 9: A delegation of business leaders from Pakistan-administered Kashmir visits the Indian-controlled side to discussed cross-LoC trade.
October 21: Trade across the Line of Control commences as the first trucks cross the line that divides Kashmir. Trade is limited to 21 items, and can take place on two days each week.
November
November 26: Armed gunmen open fire on civilians in Mumbai, India, in a series of coordinated gun-and-bomb attacks that kills over 150 people. The fallout for Pakistan-Indian diplomacy is dire as the terrorists are found to be of Pakistani origin and their handlers are thought to be based in Pakistan.
December
December 27: In the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks by Islamic extremists that result in over 180 fatalities, the Indian and Pakistani Directors General of Military Operations make unscheduled use of their hotline to discuss troop movements along their border. One likely topic of discussion was Indian troop rotations to exercise areas near the Pakistan border and small-scale counter-deployments by Pakistani troops.
January
January 1: For the 18th consecutive year, India and Pakistan exchange lists of their respective nuclear facilities. The two countries also exchanged lists of Pakistanis held in Indian prisons and Indians held in Pakistani prisons.
July
July 16: The Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan, meeting on the sidelines of a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Egypt, issue a joint statement “charting the way forward in India – Pakistan relations.”
January
January 1: India and Pakistan exchange lists of their respective nuclear facilities.
January 14: Pakistan files a petition at the International Court of Arbitration to stall the India’s Kishenganga power project
February
February 25: India’s and Pakistan’s foreign secretaries meet in New Delhi for talks.
March
March 10-April 18: Indian cricket team travels to Pakistan for a historic cricket series, the first at a non-neutral site since 1989.
May
May 3: Ajmal Kasab, lone survivor of 26/11 group of attackers, is found guilty of murder, conspiracy, and of waging war against India by court in Mumbai.
May 6: Ajmal Kasab is awarded the death sentence for his involvement in 26/11 attacks.
June
June 6: Pakistan and Indian reach agreement on the Baglihar Dam issue
July
July 15: Indian External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna meets Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in Islamabad.
January
January 16: Indian Home Secretary G. K. Pillai says that the Samjhota Express blast investigation is being conducted without any prejudice and the information gathered from the probe will be shared with Islamabad.
February
February 6: Pakistani and Indian foreign secretaries meet at Thimpu on the sidelines of the SAARC conference and agree on the need for resuming a constructive Indo-Pak dialogue that addresses all outstanding issues.
March
March 28-29: Pakistani and Indian Home/Interior Secretaries meet in New Delhi and discuss the importance for both sides to have continued engagement on outstanding issues. It is decided to set up a hotline between the Interior and Home Ministries in Islamabad and New Delhi so that real time information can be shared on security threats.
March 29: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Pakistani parliamentarians visit Mohali on the invitation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to watch the ICC World Cup semi-final between India and Pakistan. The event comes to symbolize the ‘Mohali spirit’ of Indo-Pak dialogue and cooperation.
April
April 22: Fourth meeting of India Pakistan Judicial Committee on Prisoners
April 28: Pakistani and Indian Commerce Secretaries meet in Islamabad for a fifth round of talks and discuss economic CBMs.
May
May 13: Indian and Pakistani delegations meet in Islamabad for talks on the Wullar Barrage/Tulbul Navigation Project. Both sides present their positions on the issue and agree to hold technical consultations as mandated by the Indus Water Treaty.
May 20-21: Indian and Pakistani delegations meet in Rawalpindi to discuss Sir Creek and work out the international maritime boundary. Both sides present their positions on the issue and exchange non-papers that contain viable solutions to resolve Sir Creek. It is also decided to hold a meeting at a later date with the issue close to being resolved.
May 31: Pakistani and Indian Defence Secretaries meet in New Delhi to resolve the Siachen issue and discuss strategies for conflict reduction.
June
June 3: An Indo-Pak Joint Working Group on visa procedures is held in Islamabad as a follow up to the Interior/Home Secretaries’ meeting in March. The Working Group reviews visa procedures and drafts a Bilateral Visa Agreement.
June 23-24: Indian and Pakistani Foreign Secretaries meet in Islamabad to discuss nuclear CBMs, terrorism, Jammu and Kashmir, promotion of friendly exchanges and to finalize the Visa Agreement.
July
July 9-11: The fifth conference of the Association of SAARC Speakers and Parliamentarians is held in New Delhi.
July 13: Three terrorist attacks take place in different parts of Mumbai killing 21 and injuring 141. Bombs rip through Zaveri Bazar and the Opera House in the south and Kabutarkhana in central Mumbai, while the rest of the city remains on red alert. No groups claims responsibility for the bombings.
July 13: President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani release a statement condemning the blasts in Mumbai and express distress on the loss of lives and injuries.
July 18: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani approves the appointment of Hina Rabbani Khar as the new Foreign Minister of Pakistan. Hina Rabbani Khar becomes the first Pakistani woman to be appointed to the position.
July 21: Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, a director of the Kashmiri American Council, is arrested in Washington for threatening US national security and having alleged links to the ISI.
July 22-24: Pakistan and Indian Home/Interior Ministers, Rehman Malik and Palaniappan Chidambaram meet on the sidelines of the fourth South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Interior Ministers Conference being held at Thimphu in Bhutan. They discuss matters related to terrorism, maritime security, narcotics control, trafficking of women and children and cross-border crime.
July 25: India releases eighty-seven Pakistani fishermen from a jail in Indian Gujarat to arrive at the Wagah border in a good-will gesture coinciding with the ongoing peace talks. [More on…]
July 26: Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Khar Rabbani meets with senior Kashmiri leaders Syed Ali Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq at the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi, ahead of the Foreign Ministers Meeting. Kashmiri representatives stress that along with the Kashmir issue, peace in Pakistan is of equal importance.
July 27: Pakistan and Indian Foreign Ministers Hina Khar Rabbani and Somanahalli Mallaiah Krishna meet in New Delhi and discuss a range of issues including terrorism threats, cooperation on the 2008 Mumbai attacks investigation and the divided Himalayan territory of Kashmir. They also finalise a set of confidence building measures (CBMs) dealing with facilitation of trade and movement of people across the Line of Control (LoC).
A joint statement is released by both foreign ministers asserting the review of the status of bilateral interactions on Counter-Terrorism and Narcotics Control; Humanitarian issues; Commercial and Economic co-operation; Wullar Barrage/Tulbul Navigation Project; Sir Creek; Siachen and Peace & Security including CBM’s on Jammu & Kashmir.
Foreign Minister Hina Khar Rabbani, accompanied by Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir, High Commissioner Shahid Malik and Additional Secretary Sajjad Kamran, meets with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi. She invites Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on behalf of Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani to visit Pakistan. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh accepts the invitation and confirms he would visit Pakistan at mutually convenient dates.
July 28: Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, implicated in US court in Washington on 27th July, is released on USD 100,000 bond and home detention.
August
August 4: Indian Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram speaking on a debate in Rajya Sabha on internal security states that there were indications of involvement of an Indian module in the July 13 Mumbai blasts that killed 26 people.
August 10: Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar tells the National Assembly that Pakistan sought to open a ‘new chapter’ in relations with India through peace talks, over which the government promised a debate in the next house session.
August 15: As India celebrated its 64th independence day on Monday, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani sent out greetings to his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh.
August 17: Claiming that army does not run Pakistan’s foreign policy, foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar says the military’s intentions towards India have been “overrated” and there is a need to break away from this perception More
August 18: Parliamentarians from India and Pakistan meet in New Delhi on August 18-19 in their second round of the India-Pakistan Parliamentarians Dialogue. <More
August 19: Pakistan has recognized that grant of most-favoured-nation (MFN) status to India would help in expanding bilateral trade relations, said Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jyotiraditya M. Scindia. <More>
August 21: Probe about the over 2000 unmarked bodies in Indian Kashmir.<More
August 30: India and Pakistan agree to consider easing business visa rules.
September
September 7: A bomb outside the Indian High Court in the capital Delhi has killed 10 people and injured at least 61.
September 9: Indian Mujahideen claim responsibility for the Dehli blast.
September 10: A 70-member delegation of Indian jurists and office-bearers of the bar, arrived here through Wahga border on Friday to attend a three-day international conference titled ‘Justice for all and impunity for none’ organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan (SCBAP).
September 14: Railway officials of India and Pakistan today held a meeting at the Joint Check Post at the Attari-Wagah border to enhance trade through rail between the neighbouring countries.
September 16: India has welcomed the United States declaring the Indian Mujahideen (IM) as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.More
September 17: According to the leaked US diplomatic cables released by the Wikileaks, Pakistan and India were just ‘inches away’ from signing a historic deal over word’s highest battlefield, Siachen glacier in 1992.More
September 20: India says they are willing to consider a more liberal business visa regime but wants Islamabad to table an offer first, a government official said ahead of the visit of Pakistani commerce minister MakhdoomAminFahim next week. More
September 21: The Pakistan government will not defend Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed before a US court in connection with the 2008 Mumbai attacks. More
September 22: Indian social activist Anna Hazare accepts an invitation by a two-member Pakistani delegation to visit Pakistan when his health permits. More
September 22: Foreign Minister HinaRabbaniKhar while addressing the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation Contact group on Jammu and Kashmir (ministerial level) says that Pakistan wants a peaceful and just solution in Kashmir.More
September 26: The media in Pakistan heralded the interim ‘stay order’ on the Kishanganga Dam project, stipulated by the International Court of Arbitration (ICA), but the media across the border chose to focus on the fine print. More
September 27: Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar meets Indian Foreign Minister S. M. Krishna at a reception hosted by the Pakistan mission to the United Nations. More
September 28: The trade ministers of Pakistan and India meet in Mumbai to discuss measures to repair ragged commercial ties for a fragile peace process between the two countries. More
September 29: The commerce ministers of India and Pakistan agree to ease restrictions on trade between the two countries and commit to doubling bilateral trade to $6 billion over 3 years . More
India supports for Pakistan’s EU waiver package in WTO and is issuing necessary instructions in this regard. More
September 30: Senior Minister for Commerce Makhdoom Amin Fahim says that Pakistan and India are committed that they would make the dialogue process irreversible and would continue to move forward for peace and prosperity in the region. More
October
October 1: India and Pakistan’s trade promotion organizations sign a memorandum of understanding to explore avenues for increasing mutual trade. More
October 3: Commerce Minister Amin Fahim formally invites Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to visit Pakistan, reviving hopes that the two countries will fully exploit the potential of economic and business ties. More
October 4: Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh stresses the need that both Pakistan and India should work jointly for economic prosperity of the poor masses and in facing future financial challenges. More
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says New Delhi wishes to see a stable and prosperous Pakistan. More
October 5: Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir Chairman Maulana Fazlur Rahman says India has resorted to unprecedented human rights(HR) violations to crush the freedom movement in Occupied Kashmir. More
October 6: Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik tells the Parliamentary Committee on Law and Order Situation that all nationalist groups involved in insurgency in Balochistan and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan are being supported by India to create instability in Pakistan. More
Hina Rabbani Khar says the recent strategic partnership between India and Afghanistan will not have any effect on Pakistan.More
Afghan President Hamid Karzai seeks to reassure Pakistan about his country’s new partnership with India. More
October 7: Pakistan Foreign Office cautions Afghanistan and India to avoid taking steps that may affect regional stability after Kabul and Delhi signed a wide-ranging strategic partnership agreement. More
Pakistan’s former president Musharraf charges that arch-rival India seeks to create an anti-Pakistan Afghanistan as part of a bid to dominate South Asia politically and economically. More
October 11: Commerce minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim says Pakistan would facilitate trade between Afghanistan and India. More
Fahim says that India is ready to support Pakistan in getting final approval of the World Trade Organization regarding Pakistani products’ access to European markets. More
October 12: Speaker Punjab Assembly Rana Muhammad Iqbal Khan says that both Pakistan and India are atomic powers and should resolve their issues through dialogue and work for the welfare and betterment of the masses. More
October 13: Hina Rabbani Khar says that the government has decided to grant the most favoured nation (MFN) status to India. More
October 15: A two day meeting of Joint Working Group of Pakistan and India conclude with an agreement on firming up of a draft of their bilateral visa agreement that will liberalise between the two countries. More
October 20: Jamiat Ulema-I-Islam Maulana Fazlur Rehman says that increasing trade volume between Pakistan and India was in the interest of the two countries, but it should follow, an initiative to resolve the Kashmir dispute. More
Pakistan hopes to win a seat in UN Security Council as a temporary member alongside archrival India. More
Former President Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Ali Raza Saeed says that Pakistan should increase its trade with India to maintain its parity in economic relations with India. More
October 21: Hina RabbanI Khar says that Pakistan seeks friendly relations with India on the basis of mutual respect and equality and that Pakistan is keen to take the dialogue process forward in a sustained and result-oriented manner. More
Leader of the opposition in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan says the government had not taken parliament into confidence on giving India the MFN status. More
October 23: Pakistan forces an Indian army helicopter to land for having violated its airspace, but later allowed the four officers on board and the helicopter to return after interrogation, military sources said. More
October 25: The participants of the Pakistan Defence Conference declares that the people of the country will never accept India’s hegemony in the region. More
October 26: The Pakistan army allegedly breached Indian security and downloaded all the digital data from the Indian army helicopter that strayed into Skardu on Sunday, stated a report published in The Hindustan Times. More
Indian tea planters are waiting for Pakistan to grant most favoured nation (MFN) status to boost exports across the border. More
October 27: Former President Pervez Musharraf says that India wants to ‘create an anti-Pakistan Afghanistan’ as part of its attempt to dominate the South Asian region. More
Pervez Musharraf warns that Islamabad’s spy agency will need to take counter-measures if Afghanistan becomes to close to India. More
October 28: The leadership of leading national religious parties denouncing the government’s likely decision to award Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India states that it would damage the ongoing Kashmir liberation movement. More
November
November 1: Pakistan’s top diplomatic authorities decide to temporarily shelve the proposal to grant India the Most Favoured Nation trade status. More
November 2: Yousaf Raza Gilani gives a go-ahead for importing electricity from India and decides to take up the matter with his Indian counterpart this month. More
November 3: Pakistan’s federal cabinet unanimously endorses granting MFN status to its neighbour, subject to the approval of the parliament. More
Indian Commerce and Industry minister Anand Sharma says that they deeply appreciate the positive gesture that Pakistan has taken and that when bilateral economic engagements improve, it brings prosperity to both the partners. More
November 4: The Foreign Office says the federal cabinet had only agreed to the MFN proposal ‘in principle’ and a decision would be taken after consultations between the commerce ministries of the two countries. More
There are reactions of joy from the Indian government and business community as Pakistan grants India MFN status. More
November 5: New Delhi plays down confusion about whether Pakistan was granting India MFN status, saying such a step could take some time. More
Pakistan informs India that a Pakistani judicial commission would visit India soon to interview some key people in connection with the investigation into the Mumbai terror attacks. More
Key civilian and military functionaries meet to discuss the process of easing trade with India in the run-up to grant it the MFN status. More
Foreign Office Spokesperson Tehmina Janjua says Pakistan denies that it has backtracked on giving India MFN trade status. More
November 6: Hina Rabbani Khar says that Pakistan believes in peaceful co-existence and that the corner stone of its foreign policy is to have cordial and good relations with its neighbours. More
November 8: Senior officials from Pakistan and India meet in the Maldives as they prepare for a summit of South Asian nations SAARC. More
November 9: The foreign ministers of Pakistan and India say that trust between their countries had improved, providing the foundation for a renewed push at their troubled peace process. More
Yousaf Raza Gilani says that the ongoing Indo-Pak dialogue has significantly raised the importance of the regional South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) forum. More
November 10: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says that India and rival Pakistan needed to stop wasting time trading barbs and open a new chapter in their relationship. More
November 11: India asks Pakistan to take strict action against Laskar-e-Taiba and Jammatud Dawa if it wanted a meaningful dialogue. More
Yousaf Raza Gilani says he respected comments of his Indian counterpart Dr Manmohan Singh who described him as a ‘Man of peace’; following his talks on the sidelines of the Saarc summit. More
November 12: Pakistan allows expansion in positive list of items importable from India by adding 12 more items and granting a number of relaxations for one-time import of industrial and relief goods. More
Chief of the Awami Muslim League (AML) Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed claims that the army was not taken into confidence over the cabinet’s decision to grant India the MFN status. More
The Pakistani trade delegation headed by Federal Commerce Secretary Zafar Mahmood will leave for India today for trade talks to be held in New Dehli. More
Hina Rabbani Khar says that the bilateral Summit between India and Pakistan held in Maldives has contributed to impel a seriousness of purpose to the process of engagement with both sides reaffirming their commitment to the pursuit of peace. More
November 13: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says he is optimistic about the process for resumed peace with Pakistan, but stressed that he has made it clear that if another barbarous Mumbai attack were to happen, it will be a setback. More
November 14: Two day Commerce Secretary level talks between India and Pakistan will be held today in New Delhi with special focus on boosting trade between the two countries. More
Hina RabbanI Khar says Pakistan and India are successful in reducing the trust deficit and have started building the trust. More
November 15: The commerce ministers of India and Pakistan begin a two-day meeting with an agenda to end their decades old aloofness. More
Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony seeks to calibrate the growing expectations from the bilateral dialogue between India and Pakistan saying, ‘don’t expect miracles’. More
The Permenent Indus Commission (PIWC) has compiled a list of 155 hydropower project dams, India plans to construct in violation of the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960. More
November 16: Yousaf Raza Gilani says his recent meeting with the Indian premier in the Maldives was successful. More
India and Pakistan agree to resume normal trade ties in February, paving the way to end decades of political mistrust and military rivalry. More
November 17: Makhdoom Amin Faheem informs the parliament that India had assured not to oppose Pakistan’s free trade agreement and waiver for a concessional tariff regime with European Union on the forum of the World Trade Organization (WTO). More
November 18: Dennis Kux , Ambassador ( r) and a senior scholar at Woodrow Wilson Centre Washington says that US government must be very careful while enhancing ties with India because it has direct impact on Pakistan. More
November 19: Scores of Jamaat-i-Islami activists protest demonstration against the government’s decision to confer MFN status to India as tantamount for disloyalty with Kasmiris and demand for the government to withdraw it forthwith in the larger interest of the country. More
November 22: The Senate Standing Committee on Textile expresses serious reservations over lack of coordination between the ministries of commerce and textile while finalising lists of negative items given to India. More
The Indian government is getting increasingly worried that the escalating memo gate crisis in Islamabad might end Asif Ali Zardari’s charmed run in the office and put Indo-Pakistani relations back on ice, particularly if the Pakistan army takes back control of the government. More
November 23: India says with Pakistan agreeing to open its market completely for Indian goods by the end- 2012, the process of grant of MFN status to New Delhi will be complete. More
Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Sharad Sabharwal says India has a clear cut visa policy for citizens of Pakistan, but a more liberal policy is under consideration. More
Indian government again accuses that Pakistan’s spy agency ISI continues to support various terrorist outfits to spread violence in India. More
December
December 8: The Indian government says that aspects of China-Pakistan relations, including nuclear cooperation activities in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, are of concern to India and a constant watch is kept on all developments that have a bearing
on national security. More
Pakistan says the process of giving India the MFN status to boost bilateral trade is expected to be completed by October next year. More
The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Punjab-Haryana-Delhi Chamber of Commerce and Industry announces that they will organise two separate “Made in India” exhibitions in Pakistan in 2012. More
December 9: A senior official at Commerce Ministry says the federal cabinet empowers the Ministry of Commerce to negotiate extending tariff concessions on products of commercial interest between Pakistan and India under SAFTA. More
December 16: India says Pakistan is in the process of granting MFN status to India as per the Commerce secretary level talks held in November this year. More
India and Pakistan will hold a two-day dialogue on nuclear and conventional confidence building measures separately in Islamabad at the end of this month. More
December 17: The capital market delegation from Pakistan exchanges views with the Indian regulators to learn about each other’s markets and explore avenues for future cooperation. More
December 22: Hina Rabbani Khar says that Pakistan is committed to pursuing constructive, sustained and result- oriented process of engagement with India, including on the issue of Kashmir. More
December 23: The Senate Standing Committee on Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit Baltistan demands a detailed briefing from ministries of foreign and commerce over granting MFN status to India. More
December 26: Pakistani and Indian officials resume the bilateral dialogue on conventional and nuclear weapons. More
December 27: The Pakistani government asks India to fix the date for the proposed visit of Pakistani judicial commission to interview key persons linkedto investigations into the 2008 Mumbai attacks. More
Pakistan and India consider a new proposal to remove weapons from the Line of Control in the disputed region of Kashmir, in a development that may prove crucial for resolution of the longstanding issue. More
December 28: Pakistan and India agree to move forward on proposals to extend the two vital agreements on reducing risk from accidents related tonuclear weapons and pre-notification of ballistic missile tests, while concluding two-day talks on Conventional and Nuclear Confidence Building Measures. More
December 30: India rejects Pakistan’s proposal to move heavy artillery and mortar away from the Line of Control in disputed Kashmir, claiming frequent ceasefire violations and asking Islamabad to come clear on its nuclear policy. More
December 31: Indian Border Security Force opens fire at the Pakistan-India boundary near Sialkot without provocation. More
January
January 1: Pakistan and India exchange lists of nuclear installations and facilities for the 21st consecutive year. More
January 3: Pakistan rejects an Indian proposal seeking Islamabad’s inclusion in talks on the Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty at the next session of the Conference on Disarmament. More
January 4: Hina Rabbani Khar hopes that positive development in Pakistan-India relations will also continue during the current year. More
January 5: Hina Rabbani Khar tells the National Assembly that Pakistan is committed to a constructive, sustained and result-oriented process of engagement with India. More
January 6: Dr Shashi Tharoor, member of Lok Sabha and former Indian Minister of State of External Affairs says India is genuinely committed to peaceful relations with Pakistan, which is why Indian Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh has embarked yet again another round of peaceful talks. More
January 11: Indian Foreign Minister S M Krishna says that it is up to Israel and Pakistan to decide the kind of ties they want to have after Pervez Musharraf suggested establishing diplomatic ties with the Jewish nation to counter its ‘pro-India’ policy. More
January 17: A 15-member Indian delegation has arrived in Pakistan to participate in the third round of the Pakistan-India Parliamentarians dialogue. More
January 18: Senate Chairman Farooq H Naek says that Pakistan is desirous of peaceful relations with all its neighbours, including India, and has been making consistent efforts in this regard. More
Pakistani and Indian parliamentarians agree that they have a cardinal role to play in influencing governments of the two countries to take a joint leap forward for normalising relations. More
January 19: Yousaf Raza Gilani says that his government is committed to a constructive, sustained and result-oriented process of engagement with India, and that meetings between the Indo-Pak officials in the recent past have helped reduce trust deficit between the two countries. More
Parliamentarians from Pakistan and India express their resolve to use the third round of the Pakistan-India Parliamentarians dialogue to enhance trade and economic relations between the two countries. More
January 23: India’s external affairs minister S.M. Krishna says that developments in Pakistan are of deep concern from the point of stability in South Asia. More
January 24: Petroleum Minister Dr Asim Hussain leaves for India to hold talks with his Indian counterpart on the issues of security of the Turkmenistan Afghanistan Pakistan and India (TAPI) gas pipeline and the transit fee. More
January 25: Indian High Commissioner Sharat Sabarwal calls on Hina Rabbani Khar to discuss bilateral relations and the dialogue process between the two countries. More
January 27: Indian Commerce Ministry official Arvind Mehta says Pakistan and India have finalized three agreements to remove non-tariff barriers which were obstructions for Pakistani exports to India. More
January 30: Pakistani investigators and lawyers will visit India next month to gather more evidence for the prosecution of seven suspects linked to the 2008 Mumbai attacks. More
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani describes Indo-Pak ties as a ‘compelling necessity’ and says his interior secretary will soon visit India to take forward the talks on outstanding issues between the two countries. More
February
February 2: India’s Supreme Court is due to begin an appeal hearing into the death sentence handed down to the lone surviving Pakistani gunman, Mohammed Kasab, from the 2008 Mumbai attacks. More
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper tells lawmakers at a Congressional hearing that Pakistan continues to consider India an existential threat. More
February 3: The Pakistani judicial commission postpones its scheduled visit to India. More
February 4: The ceremonial opening of the dedicated gate for bilateral Pakistan-India trade is likely to be held at Wagha Border on February 13, says an official of the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP). More
February 5: Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl chief and chairman of the special parliamentary committee on Kashmir, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, says the government should remove the reservations of Kashmiri leaders before granting the MFN status to India. More
Secretary General Jamaat-e-Islami Liaqat Baloch has condemned the government for giving MFN status to India. More
Indian Commerce Minister Anand Sharma to visit Pakistan from February 13, says Pak-India Business Council (PIBC) Chairman Noor Muhammad Qasuri. More
February 7: FIA Special Public Prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali to ask Indian authorities to chalk out a new schedule for the proposed judicial commission visit to India. More
India will ease visa restrictions on Pakistani nationals in what is described as a gesture towards improving relations with Islamabad. More
February 8: Leading industrialists and traders have expressed their concerns over the process envisaged for granting the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India, saying that the process should be equally beneficial for both nations. More
India’s concern over the presence of Chinese troops in Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK) was raised by External Affairs Minister SM Krishna in his talks with leaders here. More
February 10: Pakistan is unhappy with India for “not addressing” its concerns on removing non-tariff barriers but New Delhi said the delay was purely procedural. More
Commerce Minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim inaugurates three-day India Show at Lahore Expo Centre. More
February 12: Three agreements will be signed during Indian Commerce Minister Anand Sharma’s three-day official visit to Pakistan. More
February 13: Indian Commerce Minister Anand Sharma says both India and Pakistan have decided to dismantle all barriers hindering bilateral trade through serious talks. More
February 14: The Pakistan Air Force has modified its plans to effectively counter India’s purported ‘Cold Start’ war doctrine, says Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman. More
Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Ashok Kumar Barat says that the business community of India and Pakistan should be ashamed of not being able to exploit the trade potential for the last 64 years as envisioned by the founders of the two countries. More
All Pakistan Anjuman-e-Tajiran, the representative body of all wholesale and retail markets in the provincial capital boycotts the Indian delegation currently visiting Pakistan led by Indian Minister for Commerce. More
Federal Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar Tuesday says that Pakistan is fully capable to defend its territorial integrity and counter India’s military preparedness and its ‘War Doctrine’. More
Chairman Agri Forum Pakistan Muhammad Ibrahim Mughal criticizes the government’s decision of trading with India. More
February 15: Pakistan and India are likely to sign three pacts today that will substantially reduce barriers to bilateral trade. More
Pakistan and India must discuss and explore vistas of cooperation on climate change as both countries have an integrated ecological system with shared natural resources, says Shafqat Kakakhel, former deputy executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme. More
Commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma may announce the government’s “in-principle” decision to lift the ban on investments from Pakistan in return for concessions from across the border. More
February 16: Pakistan and India agree to ease visa regime for businessmen. More
February 17: Indian Business delegation led by R B Mittal, express their resolve to build trade relations between the two countries on durable basis at the PM House. More
February 18: Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik says that a Pakistani judicial commission would visit India in March to investigate ‘Mumbai attacks’. More
Pakistan Peace Coalition (PPC) welcomes the signing of three trade accords between India and Pakistan. More
PM Yousuf Raza Gilani says that granting a country the ‘Most Favoured Nation’ (MFN) status was not the same as declaring it the most “friendly” nation. More
February 19: Speaker of Indian Lok Sabha, Meira Kumar plans a five-day state visit to Pakistan. More
February 21: Speaker of Lok Sabha Meira Kumar arrives on a five-day state visit to Pakistan. More
Pakistan and India agree to extend a pact on reducing risks of nuclear accidents that could be caused by stockpiles of atomic weapons. More
Delhi police nab 39-year-old Kamran Akbar, suspecting him of being an ISI agent who had been staying in India for the last 20 years. More
February 22: Foreign countries and agencies strongly opposed to the Gwadar Port and determined to drive a wedge between Pakistan and Iran are involved in terrorist activities in Balochistan, military sources say. More
National Assembly Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza, and Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar agree to enhance interaction between the parliamentarians of Pakistan and India to built bridges of understanding and friendship between the two neighbouring countries. More
PM Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani says talks were necessary for permanent and solid relations between India and Pakistan. More
February 23: Indian Border Security Forces (IBSF) hand over two Pakistani prisoners to Punjab Rangers at Wagah border as goodwill gesture. More
February 24: Jobs of almost 70 per cent population of the rural areas of the country are at risk if MFN status is granted to India, says former chairman of Pakistan Poultry Association Abdul Basit. More
February 25: Foreign Office spokesman states that Pakistan will no longer publicly accuse India of alleged interference in Balochistan. More
February 26: Punjab CM Shahbaz Sharif says that India and Pakistan need to develop peaceful neighbourly relations while continuing efforts for the solution to all outstanding issues, including Kashmir, in order to achieve a durable peace in the subcontinent. More
February 27: Moderate Kashmiri leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq says the Hurriyat is seriously considering opening offices in New Delhi and Islamabad. More
The Indian military is to conduct one of its largest mock war drills, involving 20,000 troops, close to the country’s border with Pakistan. More
February 28: Commerce Secretary Zafar Mahmood promises to complete the negative list for trade with India by the end of this month. More
February 29: Pakistan will normalise trade with arch-rival India by the end of this year says Information Minister Firdous Ashiq Awan.
March
March 1: India’s Foreign Minister SM Krishna thanked Pakistan for deciding to gradually scrap the “negative list” that prevents the export of hundreds of items from India. More
Pakistan’s PM Yousuf Raza Gilani says that more trade with India would bring stability to the region. More
India’s Foreign Minister SM Krishna welcomes Pakistan’s decision to phase out major restrictions on Indian imports by the end of this year. More
March 5: Hina Rabbani Khar says that the India-Pakistan dialogue process had resumed, after remaining suspended for two years, and its resumption was vital for peace in the region. More
March 12: Pakistani investigators and lawyers are to travel to India this week in connection with 26/11 investigations. More
Indian President Pratibha Patil states that her country’s remains committed to resolving all outstanding disputes with Pakistan through substantive dialogue. More
March 13: Sri Ravi Shankar states that the politicians on both sides of the border need to change their approach of attracting voters through war rhetoric and hate mongering. More
India chalks out strategy to use the remaining Pakistan’ water in Chenab to irrigate the land of Jammu city. More
Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Sharat Sabharwal announces that talks are currently underway for the re-opening of the Indian Consulate in Karachi. More
March 14: A Pakistani judicial commission, probing the 2008 Mumbai attack, leaves for India to gather evidence. More
Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Sharat Sabharwal calls on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan at the PTI office. More
Minister for Water and Power Naveed Qamar informs the National Assembly that Pakistan had raised objections to the design of five dams to be constructed by India on three western rivers in violation of the Indus Basin Treaty. More
March 15: The Pakistan judicial commission holds a close-door meeting with Indian special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam in connection with the Mumbai terror attack of Nov 26, 2008. More
March 16: An Indian official says a court has barred a Pakistani delegation from interviewing the man convicted of the 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai and any of the witnesses in his trial. More
March 17: The eight-member judicial commission from Pakistan records the statements of key witnesses in the Mumbai terror attacks case. More
March 19: It is imperative for Pakistan’s economic growth that the country enhances its trade ties with India, says a top World Bank official. More
March 21: The ministry of commerce issues the Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO) for switching over to negative list regime to trade with India. More
March 22: India will explore a route through Pakistan to transport iron ore from Afghanistan, the head of a consortium involved in the $11 billion project says. More
Indian Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahmad tells the Rajya Sabha that India is committed to resolving all outstanding issues with Pakistan through dialogue but it is necessary to have an environment free of terror to move forward meaningfully. More
India’s state owned oil and gas company GAIL has offers Pakistan a deal to import natural gas from India. More
March 24: Pakistan is expected to bring out a notification next month allowing import of certain goods, including petrol and food items from India says Secretary for Petroleum and Natural Resources Muhammad Ejaz Chaudhry. More
The Indo-Pak talks on water dispute are going to be held in the last week of March in New Dehli, says Syed Raghib Abbas Shah, Member Water WAPDA. More
March 25: The government allows Indian wheat for the first time to pass through its territory to Afghanistan via Karachi Port. More
March 26: PM Yousuf Raza Gilani has brief interactions with US President Barack Obama and his Indian counterpart Dr Manmohan Singh. More
March 27: Hina Rabbani Khar stresses that both India and Pakistan recognize the need to go beyond the stage of dealing with the “trust deficit” and move towards a “result-oriented dialogue”. More
March 28: Two day secretary-level talks between Pakistan and India over the distribution of water and the construction of Wullar barrage project on River Jhelum begin. More
Manmohan Singh says he will visit Pakistan only after some concrete steps are taken in the India-Pakistan relations. More
India tells Pakistan that it would prefer the option of seeking international arbitration to resolve the over two-decade old dispute over the Tulbul navigation project. More
March 29: Michael Sheehan, assistant secretary of Defence for Special Operations, says that Pakistan has an addiction of playing around with militant groups against India. More
India formally offers Pakistan 5,000MW of electricity to meet its energy requirements on an urgent basis which could be transmitted through Punjab without much delay. More
Lt-Gen Frank Panter, the Deputy Commandant for Installations and Logistics, states that the US would have to rely on India and the northern distribution network if Pakistan did not reopen Nato supply lines to Afghanistan. More
March 31: Federal Secretary Commerce Zafar Mehmood says that the government would not implement a free trade regime with India without ensuring level playing field to Pakistani exporters. More
April
April 1: Zardari’s spokesman revealed that President Asif Ali Zardari is to make the first visit to India by a Pakistani head of state since 2005. More
April 2: Indian Coast Guard officials stated that they had apprehended fourteen Pakistani fishermen two boats were seized for illegally entering Indian territory near Jakhau coast in Kutch district. More
April 3: Hearing a petition to stop the federal government from importing 5,000MW of electricity from India, the Supreme Court directs the counsel for the petitioner to furnish the Indian Supreme Court’s judgement on rivers interlinking 2005. More
India to provide documents about Mumbai attacks to Pakistan soon; including the testimony by Ajmal Kasab. More
April 5: Pakistan foreign ministry spokesperson Abdul Basit stated that Pakistan is looking forward for meaningful engagements with India to promote peace and security in the region. More
April 6: Pakistan and India agreed on formation of an independent Indus water commission comprising of neutral and transparent professionals. More
India decided to deploy at least 2,000 police personnel for Pakistan President Zardari’s visit to New Delhi and Ajmer. More
Indian External Affairs Minister Mr. Krishna claimed that India has repeatedly given Pakistan every detail of Jamatud Dawa’s leader Hafiz Saeed’s involvement in the Mumbai terror attack, but ‘Islamabad has chosen not to conduct an investigation’. More
Pakistan Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Abdul Basit rejected Indian External Affairs Minister SM Krishna’s remarks that India has provided adequate proof linking Jamatud Dawa (JD) Chief Hafiz Saeed to the Mumbai attacks. More
April 7: Pakistan Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Abdul Basit confirmed that President Asif Ali Zardari will meet Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at lunch during his visit to India. More
April 8: The US has held Indian security forces responsible for committing gross human rights violations in Indian-held Kashmir (IHK) and other conflict-hit regions. More
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari met Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhiat in New Delhi and invited him to visit Pakistan. More
China lauds Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari’s visit to India, stating that better ties between the two nuclear-armed neighbours would benefit both countries and bring stability in the region. More
President Asif Ali Zardari and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh discussed the Kashmir issue and terrorism-related challenges and stated that the two countries are willing to find “practical, pragmatic” solutions to a “number of issues” affecting the bilateral relationship. More
April 9: The US and India have offered assistance to Pakistan for search operations at the 6,000-metre-high Siachen Glacier where an avalanche completely swept over the Pakistan Army headquarters. More
The Indian Supreme Court granted bail on humanitarian grounds to an eighty-year-old Pakistani scientist Mohammed Khalil Chishti who is serving a life term in an Ajmer jail in Rajasthan over a 20-year-old murder case. More
The Indian Defence Ministry noted in its latest annual report that the existence of terrorist camps across the Indo-Pak border and continued infiltrations across the Line of Control (LoC) are a continual threat, . More
April 10: India’s top court directed local authorities to make arrangements for the return of all Pakistani prisoners who, despite completing their terms, have not yet been released from the country’s jails. More
India seeks dates from Pakistan for a bilateral meeting between the home secretaries of the two countries after May 22 when the budget session of Parliament comes to an end. More
Asserting that Pakistan-India relations were going through one of the best phases in the history of the two countries, Pakistan High Commissioner to India Shahid Malik stated that both countries were close to putting in place a new liberal visa agreement. More
April 11: A 250-member delegation led by Federal Minister for Commerce, Makhdoom Amin Fahim left for India to attend a three-day Life Style Exhibition starting from April 12 in New Delhi. More
Pakistan’s High commissioner in New Delhi Shahid Malik says that President Asif Ali Zardari had reached an understanding with Indian PM Dr Manmohan Singh during his recent visit to India and that both of them had decided to finalise an agreement on the visa issuance very soon. More
April 12: Indian Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai said that the US decision to place a $10 million bounty on Jamat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed shows that Washington has come around to share India’s view about the high level of threat from Pakistani militant groups. More
Pakistan released 26 Indian fishermen held in prison for more than two years for violating territorial waters as a goodwill gesture told Nazeer Husain Shah, superintendent of the Malir district prison in Karachi. More
April 13: Top Indian and Pakistani political and business leadership open a gateway (the Integrated Check Post) to new socio-economic ties at Attari. More
A government official revealed that India has offered tariff of about Rs15 per unit for sale of 500MW of electricity to Pakistan at the Wagah-Attari border that would require a total of 45 kilometres of transmission line. More
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif stated that trade with India through a land route will create jobs and bring about prosperity in the country. More
India’s Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma indicated that India is open to inviting foreign direct investments from Pakistan. More
April 14: Pakistan Foreign Office Spokesman Moazzam Ahmed Khan formally announced the appointment of Salman Bashir as the new High Commissioner to India. More
Pakistani Commerce Minister Makhdoom Mohammad Amin Fahim and his Indian counterpart Anand Sharma agreed to promote bi-lateral trade and economic relations for the benefit of the business community and consumers of the two countries. More
Zehra Akbari, Director General (South Asia) at the Foreign Office reminds India of a 1989 agreement for resolving the Siachen dispute and asks New Delhi to honour it. More
April 16: Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said that Islamabad now trusts New Delhi more than ever before and believes the Kashmir dispute cannot be a roadblock. More
April 17: Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar stated during a meeting with a British delegation that Kashmir remains the core issue between India and Pakistan hampering development and prosperity in the region. More
April 18: Pakistan’s finance minister voiced optimism about trade with India, saying that he saw popular support for building ties with India and benefiting from its “dynamic” economy. More
Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani says he would like to see the country spend less on defence and called for the Siachenborder-area with India to be de-militarized. More
April 19: Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesman Moazzam Ahmad Khan says Pakistan is finalising details for the next round of talks with India over the disputed Siachen Glacier. More
Indian Minister of State for Defence MM Pallam Raju welcomed Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani’s remarks on resolving the Siachen issue and demilitarization of the region, stating that the money spent on deployment of troops could be spent on development of the two countries. More
April: 20 President Asif Ali Zardari claimed that Pakistan can not unilaterally withdraw it’s forces from Siachen. More
April 22: Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar declared that India and Pakistan are back on the dialogue table to sort out issues between the two nations and added that Islamabad cannot afford to be selective in improving ties with its neighbours.More
April 23: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said that all issues with India, including the withdrawal of troops from Siachen and the Kashmir dispute, must be resolved through dialogue More
April 24: UN chief Ban Ki-moon termed recent efforts by India and Pakistan to normalise their relations as “very positive” and “encouraging”. More
April 25: Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna stated that India and Pakistan are likely to sign a ‘liberalised visa agreement’ during secretary-level talks in Islamabad next month. More
April 28: India has held talks over exporting refined fuels to its neighbor Pakistan, at the opening of the company’s new refinery close to the border between the two countries says the head of Hindustan Mittal Energy, S.Roy Choudhury says . More
April 30: Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain says enhanced trade with India is a preference of the government, but it would not be pursued at the cost of local industry. More
May
May 1: The Indian government tells the Lok Sabha that India and Pakistan have agreed to hold meaningful and result-oriented discussion to demilitarise the Siachen glacier region where 26 Indian soldiers died during deployment last year. More
May 2: India and Pakistan are channelling their efforts into increasing trade in the hope that business can bring them together. Mor
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) impressed by India’s successful use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) in its elections, is seeking to emulate the system in the upcoming general elections. More
May 3: India’s Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma says that India has in principle agreed to allow foreign direct investment (FDI) from Pakistan to help boost trade between the two countries. More
Pakistan’s Federal Commerce Minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim says that an official announcement to declare India the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) by Pakistan is expected by the end of this year. More
May 4: Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani says that India has toughened its stance on Siachen as compared to 1989, adding that India has now been demanding re-determination of positions. More
May 8: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Imran Khan says that Pakistan and India need to trust each other in order to progress and the time has come to see change in the bilateral relationship. More
Kargil episode has made things difficult says Indian High Commissioner Sharat Sabharwal as Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar demanded that India to take a ‘bold initiative’ to resolve the Siachen dispute. More
Besides developing relations on the basis of equality, Pakistan is committed to resolving all outstanding issues with India through dialogue says Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. More
Asserting that our growing economic agenda also includes finalisation of modalities of electricity trade between the two countries and the trade in petroleum products, Indian High Commissioner Sharat Shabarwal says that India and Pakistan should target $12 billion trade within next five years. More
A two-day 2nd Aman Ki Asha Economic Conference under the theme of “Dividends” starts to discuss ways and means to improve and strengthen relations between Pakistan and India. More
May 9: The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) agree to share research data for mutual benefit and to highlight the regional potential. More
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan vows to develop friendly relations with India after coming to power. More
May 10: In a show of gross misreporting and anti-Pakistan propaganda the Indian media issues a news report claiming that three Pakistani nationals associated with the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) have entered Mumbai and plan to carry out an attack similar to the one in Mumbai during 2008. More
World Punjabi Congress (WPC) Chairman Fakhar Zaman says the common man needs to be involved directly in the peace process for durable peace between India and Pakistan. More
Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Firdous Ashiq Awan hailing the Aman Ki Asha initiative launched jointly by Jang Group of Pakistan and Time of India newspaper, says the move goes a long way in dispelling the ‘negative perceptions’ between Pakistan and India. More
May 11: Foreign Ministry spokesperson Moazzam Ahmad Khan says Pakistan will host the next round of talks with India over the disputed Siachen Glacier on June 11-12 in Islamabad. More
May 12: India’s intelligence agency sparks outrage in Pakistan and falls victim to self-deprecatory jokes at home this week, after it listed ordinary Pakistani shopkeepers as terrorists on a mission to attack some of India’s landmark institutions. More
Pakistan says it will host the next round of talks with India on June 11-12, in Islamabad, over the Siachen Glacier that is dubbed as the world’s highest battlefield. More
May 14: The Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) and India’s Intelligence Bureau (IB) has ordered a probe regarding a report that reveals that five Pakistani ‘terrorists’, belonging to the banned outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), have sneaked into Mumbai; possibly through the sea route and are plotting to attack vital installations. More
The Indian government is likely to pull back troops from wartime positions, deployed at the working boundary with Pakistan after the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks. More
May 15: Ailing Pakistani microbiologist Dr Mohammad Khalil Chishti is set to return to Pakistan after the Indian Supreme court allows him to travel back on human grounds. More
May 16: Pakistani High Commissioner Shahid Malik meets Indian Home Secretary RK Singh ahead of India-Pakistan home secretary-level talks on Tuesday to discuss various aspects of the proposed meeting including an accord for a liberalised visa regime. More
Return of Dr. Khalil Chisty to Islamabad amongst scenes of jubilation marks a historic day for Pakistan-India relations and perhaps a symbol of hope for the hundreds of prisoners languishing indefinitely on both sides of the border. More
May 18: Australian High Commissioner Tim George states that Pakistan and India had different cases and both cannot be treated equally for provision of civil nuclear technology from Australia. More
India increases its security measures at the Integrated Check Post (ICP) at the India-Pakistan border, following a threat issued by Pakistan-based terrorist outfit Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT) and the Taliban to blow up the ICP on Pakistan side. Press Trust of India. More
The cabinet of the Indian government approves a deal to buy natural gas from Turkmenistan via the $7.6 billion pipeline that will pass through Afghanistan and Pakistan, removing a major stumbling block in completing an intra-continental gas supply line. More
May 22: Pakistan and finalises major changes in their decades-old strict bilateral ‘visa regime during secretary-level talks, which may serve as a catalyst to normalise ties between the archrival neighbours. More
May 24: In an unprecedented move, Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh order the head of country’s Intelligence Bureau (IB) to join the 12-member delegation led by Home Secretary RK Singh for a bilateral visit to Pakistan. More
May 25: Pakistan and India hold secretary-level talks, agreeing to exempt business community from reporting to police upon arrival.
India declares Hafiz Saeed as mastermind of the Mumbai attacks as the two countries started the two-day talks in Islamabad on liberal visa regime, curbing smuggling and crime. More
May 28: The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) denies Indian media reports that the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Parvaiz Kayani is expected to meet the Indian Defence Minister in Singapore’s Sigari-la moot in June. More
May 30: India and Pakistan open talks on Islamabad importing oil from its eastern neighbour in a bid to ease a crippling energy crisis plaguing Pakistan. More
May 31: A nationally representative poll among a cross-section of more than 2,600 men and women extrapolats that 67 percent Pakistanis think that the country should trade with India. More
June
June 2: Former Minister for Defence, who recently took charge of the Ministry for Power and Water, Chaudhary Ahmed Mukhtar said that the militaries of both India and Pakistan are an obstacle to the resolution of the Siachen dispute. More
June 9: Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony cautions against expecting a breakthrough in the Siachen Glacier talks being held in Islamabad next week. More
June 11: The foreign ministers of Pakistan and India are due to review progress made under the resumed dialogue process when Indian External Affairs Minister SM Krishna travels to Islamabad next month to hold talks with his Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar. More
Defence Secretaries of India and Pakistan begin two-day talks on the Siachen issue in Islamabad. More
Indian and Pakistani defence secretaries kick off two-day talks on the issues pertaining to demilitarisation of the Siachen Glacier. More
June 12: The first day of the Defence Secretary level talks between Pakistan and India concludes yesterday. The talks are aimed at resolving the Siachen issue between the two countries. More
The two-day secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan concludes. More
June 13: India and Pakistan fail to make any progress in connection with demilitarisation of the world’s highest battlefield Siachen, as the 13th round of secretary level talks between the two countries end in Rawalpindi. More
June 14: India’s foreign minister says the mastermind behind the 2008 Mumbai attacks is still using Pakistan for a “hate India campaign”. More
Indian troops resort to unprovoked firing along the Line of Control in Batal sector near Muzaffarabad. More
June 18: Next month for the first time, Chiefs of Pakistan Rangers and Indian Border Security Force (BSF) will meet in the Indian capital. They will thrash out a host of issues, including recent incidents of firing along the Indo-Pak border. More
Indo-Pak negotiations on Sir Creek issue kick off in New Delhi. More
Defence Minister Naveed Qamar says that negotiations were underway between Pakistan and India for the withdrawal of troops from Siachen and soon a better strategy would be formulated in this direction. More
Pakistan and India reiterate their desire to find an amicable solution to the Sir Creek issue through sustained and result oriented dialogue process. More
June 19: Yesterday, officials from Pakistan and India started the 12th round of talks over the disputed maritime border region of Sir Creek. More
June 20: Unprovoked firing by Indian troops at Buttal Sector along the Line of Control (LoC), solicits protests at local level in Pakistan against the incident. More
Talks on Sir Creek between India and Pakistan ended yesterday without any major breakthrough and the two countries agreed to hold another round on the issue in Pakistan. More
June 24: Hoping for progress in the bilateral dialogue process on all issues, Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh congratulates Raja Pervez Ashraf on his election as the prime minister of Pakistan. More
June 26: Britain’s Minister of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Lord Howell welcomes the positive steps being taken by Pakistan and India to build trust and confidence. More
On June 27, Pakistan will release 315 Indian fishermen, including 23 juvenile prisoners lodged in Karachi jails. More
Women soldiers of Pakistan and India will soon perform the ceremonial beating retreat held every evening at the Attari-Wagah border of the two countries. More
Stating that it is difficult to resolve all the issues that both countries have been facing since the past 60 years in six days or months, Indian Foreign Minster S M Krishna said that Pak-India relations are however, normalising. More
In the backdrop of the arrest of Abu Jundal, a LeT terrorist and key handler of attackers who struck Mumbai in 2008, Pakistan offers India counter-terrorism cooperation. More
June 27: President Asif Ali Zardari commutes death sentence of Sarabjit Singh into life imprisonment on Tuesday. Sarabjit Singh, who is in Lahore’s KotLakhpat Jail, was convicted following bomb blasts in Multan and Lahore in 1990. More
A planned meeting next month between the Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers has been postponed, New Delhi says, citing a clash of dates with India’s presidential election. More
The Pakistan government took a u-turn on release of the Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh in an unusual way late on Tuesday. Sarabjit Singh is, convicted of spying charges and the Pakistan government said that the release orders were signed for “Surjit Singh” and not for “Sarabjit Singh”. More
Senior Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik says that Surjeet Singh has completed his sentence. He reiterated that Surjeet and Sarabjeet were two different Indian prisoners. More
India always blames Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency without any evidence and never apologises, says advisor to the Prime Minister on Interior Affairs Rehman Malik. More
June 28: India requests Pakistan to release death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh after Islamabad said it had taken steps for release of another Indian prisoner, Surjeet Singh, who has been jailed for three decades. More
A man arrested on suspicion of helping plot the 2008 Mumbai attacks had “confirmed” during interrogation that Pakistan was involved, say Indian officials. More
June 29: India on Friday denies that an Indian man freed after serving three decades in a Pakistani jail on espionage charges was a spy working for New Delhi. More
Indian spy Surjeet Singh was handed over to Indian authorities at the Wagah border on Thursday. More
June 30: According to India, the leader of the Pakistan-based militant group, which India blames for the deadly 2008 Mumbai attacks, may have been present in a Pakistani “control room” from where the attacks were coordinated. More
July
July 5: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced that he is ready for a visit to Pakistan and hopes that the visit would yield positive results, Express News reported on Thursday evening. Express Tribune
July 6: Reliable sources revealed to Daily Times that despite recurring letdowns on the resolution of the Siachen dispute from both sides; India and Pakistan; foreign offices have deliberately put the issue on the backburner. They are focusing instead on issues of terrorism, Kashmir, trade and resumption of cricket. Daily Times
Pakistan strongly rejectes suggestions that any of its state agencies were involved in acts of terrorism perpetrated in India. The rejection was issued at the conclusion of talks between foreign secretaries of the two countries. Daily Times
The incorrigible naysayers were isolated and the maligned idealists were rewarded by India and Pakistan whose foreign secretaries set the stage on Thursday for a political engagement between the two countries. Despite the never ending hiccups, the secretaries pledged to salvage and consolidate the gains of their revived dialogue. Dawn
July 23: The so-called Composite Dialogue between Pakistan and India after completion of two full-fledged rounds is now due for further continuation. However several concerns remain to be addressed as the Indian Minister for External Affairs, SM Kirishna, reluctantly agreed to visit Islamabad for the review meeting in the early second week of September. The meeting was previously scheduled for last week, but deferred under the pretext of Indian presidential polls in which the minister had little role to play. The News
July 25: The United States has expressed its support for Pakistan-India cricket diplomacy and desires that in addition to progress on trade relations, the two South Asian nations should now also move forward on trust building, counter-terrorism cooperation and tackling political issues. Daily Times
July 28: President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday formally invited Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to visit Pakistan, saying it will provide an opportunity to the two sides to take stock of bilateral relations. Daily Times
August
August 1: India overturns its ban on foreign investment from Pakistan in a move designed to build goodwill amid a renewed push for a peace settlement between the two neighbours. More
Islamabad tells New Delhi that recently obtained evidence from the Mumbai attacks is inadmissible in court because Pakistanis were not allowed to cross-examine Indian officials, a Pakistani lawyer says. More
August 3: The central bank allows the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) and the United Bank Limited (UBL) to open branches in India, underlining the steady progress in improving economic and trade ties between the two countries. More
Pakistani and Indian officials discuss plans to import 500 megawatts of electricity from India to energy-starved Pakistan. More
August 4: Interior Minister Rehman Malik brings documentary proof to the Senate to prove the active involvement of Afghanistan and Indian intelligence in the destabilisation of Balochistan, and the patronising of separatists, including Brahamdagh Bugti. More
August 10: Sixty Hindu families migrate to India due to the law and order situation in Jacobabad. More
Two hundred and thirty Hindu pilgrims, who were earlier stopped from crossing the Wagah Border, are allowed to go to India to attend a religious event, Dawn News reports. More
Interior Minister Rehman Malik says that the Hindu families migration story is a conspiracy against Pakistan. More
August 11: President Asif Zardari takes serious notice of the reports of the sense of insecurity among Hindu families in Sindh and directs authorities concerned to allay Hindus’ grievances. More
August 12: Defence Minister Syed Naveed Qamar says that the government would take all measures to address the concerns of the Hindu community who are Pakistani citizens and enjoy equal rights. More
As many as 115 more Hindu pilgrims belonging to Sindh leave for India through Wagah. Talking to the media, pilgrims say: “The reports about our exodus from Pakistan are baseless.” More
Kanwar Dilshad, former Secretary of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), says a delegation of Hindu community members approached the electoral body in 2008 against alleged harassment and intimidation by a noted politician from Jacobabad. More
August 13: Chairman Parliament Special Committee on Kashmir Maulana Fazlur Rehman asks India not to stop Pakistani water by constructing dams on Pakistani rivers. More
President Asif Ali Zardari says the government was committed to striving for better relations between Pakistan and India and says he hoped that the search by the two countries for a peaceful resolution to all disputes would bear fruit through a sustained and productive dialogue. More
August 14: The government contemplates alternative funding plans for the $12-billion Diamer-Bhasha Dam project through bilateral institutions after declining an Asian Development Bank suggestion that Pakistan secure a no-objection certificate from India for multilateral funding. More
Another group of 30 Pakistani Hindus reach Amritsar by the Samjhota Express and say they have no desire to return to Pakistan. More
August 15: Pakistan releases 55 Indian fishermen, 15 of them teenagers, as a “goodwill gesture” to mark Independence Day in India. More
Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf felicitates Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on the Independence Day of India. More
August 17: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain asks prominent personalities of the country to think about the conspiracy behind repeated terrorist attacks on defence installations and Hindus’ migration to India. More
India extends help to Pakistani Hindus who have arrived on tourist/pilgrimage visas, saying New Delhi was willing to issue long-term visas to them if they apply under the norms. More
As many as six Pakistani civilians, including two women and a child, are seriously injured due to firing and mortar shelling by the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) the Surkhpur village, 10 kilometres from Sialkot. More
August 18: Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India Salman Bashir, on behalf of President Asif Ali Zardari, the Government and people of Pakistan, presents a cheque of one million dollars as donation for the Ajmer Sharif shrine in India. More
August 19: The interior ministers of Pakistan and India agree to attempt resolving problems through mutual cooperation and understanding. More
August 20: The present phase of Indo-Pakistan ties is full of promise and that too without compromising on the Kashmir issue, which is not on the backburner, so to speak, Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India Salman Bashir says. More
The Indian government says the bulk of SMS and MMS messages that triggered panic in the northeast of the country have been traced to Pakistan and a protest will be lodged with Islamabad. More
Pakistan rejects as ‘baseless’ and ‘unfounded’ charges from New Delhi that it was behind the mass exodus of students and workers from India’s northeast for fear of being attacked by Muslims. More
Pakistan and India agree to work together for peace in the region in a telephone conversation between Interior Minister Rehman Malik and Indian Home Minister Sunil Kumar Shinde. More
August 22: A delegation of Pakistani parliamentarians and traders leave for India through the Wagah border on a four-day visit for a dialogue with their counterparts on issues including bilateral trade and visa policy. More
August 23: Indian media reports say Pakistan and India have agreed to issue complete banking licenses and to open branches of two banks hosted in both countries. More
India’s Home Minister P Chidambaram says that during the past three years 764 Pakistanis have been given Indian citizenship. More
August 24: Members of Parliament from Pakistan and India discuss opportunities to deepen ties between their countries, focusing on the issues of visa regime, role of the media, education and local government. More
August 26: An 18-member Pakistani delegation comprising Parliamentarians that returned home via Wagah border after a five-day visit to India says that parliamentarians of both sides want to facilitate the people of both nations. More
August 27: A committee formed by President Asif Ali Zardari to look into reports of mass migration of Hindus to India rejects claims that members of the minority community are leaving Sindh because of security fears. More
Pakistani authorities send two requests to India to allow defence lawyers to cross-examine key witnesses in the 2008 Mumbai attacks case, saying any failure to do so could allow the accused in the country to go scot-free. More
Indian Defence Minister AK Antony says that while efforts are on to resolve the disputed Sir Creek issue with Pakistan, he could not specify a timeline as yet. More
August 28: India and Pakistan agree to continue dialogue on Siachen for early resolution of the outstanding issues there, and reaffirm the resolve to make serious, sustained and result-oriented efforts to seek an amicable solution, the Lok Sabha is informed. More
Pakistan Rangers arrest nine Indians for attempting to enter Pakistani territory illegally. More
August 29: Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar says that Pakistan is looking forward to upcoming talks between President Asif Ali Zardari and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit in Tehran to resolve important issues. More
August 30: Ahead of a likely meeting between President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Tehran, India expresses unhappiness with the tardy probe and trial in Pakistan of the Mumbai terror suspects. More
August 31: Interior Minister Rehman Malik says Pakistan has finalised work on visa regime with India and hopes it would be signed during the visit of Indian Foreign Minister to Pakistan in September. More
Former High Commissioner of Pakistan in India Shahid Malik says that the draft of new liberal visa policy between the two countries has been prepared and will be signed during the current year. More
President Asif Ali Zardari says that Pakistan and India must make determined efforts and maintain focus to steer the dialogue process in a productive and result-oriented manner. More
September
September 1: Interior Minister Rehman Malik says Pakistan has finalised work on the visa regime with India and hopes it would be signed during the Indian external affairs minister’s visit to Pakistan. More
The foreign ministers of Pakistan and India will hold talks in Islamabad next week as the nuclear-armed rivals seek to advance the delicate process of normalising ties. More
September 2: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain says a majority of the Pakistani people want friendly relations and trade with India. More
The Indian government says it will decide on the visit of another Pakistan judicial panel to cross-examine witnesses related to the trial of suspects in the 26/11 Mumbai carnage after completion of internal consultations. More
A sixteen-member delegation of Pakistani parliamentarians leaves for India. The delegation would participate in dialogue on Pak-India relations and trade. More
September 6: Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna says he will go to Pakistan with a message to amicably solve all outstanding issues. More
September 7: Indian External Affairs Minister SM Krishna arrives in Pakistan with a message of goodwill from the government and people of India at a time when there are signs of a distinct thaw in relations. More
Pakistan has walked the talk and will not follow India but continue to lead, says Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, adding that the Pakistan People’s Party and its government would never fall prey to reactive diplomacy. More
Interior Minister Rehman Malik says bilateral relations between Pakistan and India were improving according to the wishes of the people and an agreement on the visa regime would be signed on September 8. More
September 8: As Indian Minister for External Affairs SM Krishna arrives in Pakistan for the resumed dialogue with his counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar, the two sides evolve a consensus on the visa issuance policy during foreign secretary-level talks. More
September 9: Pakistan and India agree to ease the existing restrictive visa regime between them, launch a Karachi-Mumbai ferry service and start daily flights connecting Islamabad and Delhi, as the foreign ministers of both countries wrap up the latest round of peace talks by promising to continue their dialogue. More
The Indian Foreign Minister SM Krishna hails the efforts of Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik in curbing the activities of terrorist organisations and punishing the culprits of the Mumbai attacks. More
September 10: Indian Foreign Minister SM Krishna says Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wanted to strengthen friendly relations with Pakistan, and India was against destabilising any country. More
India’s Foreign Minister, S.M. Krishna says the people and the government of India want to see a stable and prosperous Pakistan. More
Pakistan and India are dissatisfied after a meeting of their foreign ministers because their respective core issues have not been addressed adequately over the past two years. More
September 14: Pakistan and India will ink three crucial agreements in the upcoming commerce secretary-level talks scheduled for September 20-21 in Islamabad, Federal Commerce Secretary Muneer Qureshi says. More
September 15: Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh sends a message to Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf to express his condolences on the tragic loss of lives in the tragic incidents of fire in Karachi and Lahore. More
September 17: Federal Minister for Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan Affairs Manzoor Wattoo says that the people of Azad Kashmir have no objection to trade between Pakistan and India. More
September 18: India test-fires its second-longest-range missile, a defence official says, two days after Pakistan announced its own missile test. More
September 19: Two-day secretary-level talks over trade between India and Pakistan begin in Islamabad. More
September 21: Pakistan and India sign three technical agreements and discuss trade in gas and electricity. More
September 22: According to a World Trade Organisation official, the decision taken by Pakistan and India to scale down tariff to a maximum of five percent and remove all non-tariff barriers (NTBs) by 2020 will lead to regional integration. More
October
October 1: India’s external affairs minister, S.M. Krishna takes on Pakistan at the United Nations for raising the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir. More
October 2: India will show patience and perseverance in dealing with the 26/11 case with Pakistan with which it has a “difficult relationship”, S.M. Krishna says. More
October 16: Pakistan’s petroleum minister Asim Hussain says the country is willing to import diesel and jet fuel from India if the price is “right”. More
October 19: Information and Broadcasting Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira says the Pakistani and Indian media should play a significant role in creating an environment where the two governments could take decisions in the interest of both countries free from any pressure. More
October 21: India’s Home Minister S.K. Shinde alleges that Pakistan is helping terrorists infiltrate into India. More
October 29: India’s new External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid says he would try to strengthen ties with Pakistan. More
October 31: Pakistan’s Federal Cabinet approves four agreements signed with India, including a much-anticipated agreement on a liberalised visa regime aimed at promoting bilateral trade between the two countries. More
November
November 6: The Indian Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde levels allegations against Pakistan, saying India has provided evidence regarding the Mumbai attacks. More
November 8: Chief Minister Bihar Nitish Kumar says that exchange of delegations can help improve India-Pakistan relations. More
November 12: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says India favours a stable and prosperous Pakistan. More
November 15: Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar says Kashmir remains the oldest unresolved issue on the UN Security Council agenda and a source of constant conflict between Pakistan and India. More
Federal Minister for Commerce Makhdoom Amin Fahim says Pakistan is committed to the implantation of MFN status for India from January 1, 2013, and there will be no delay. More
November 17: India’s foreign ministry indicates Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may not visit Pakistan any time soon given Islamabad’s preoccupation with elections and its allegedly tardy approach to prosecuting the suspects in Mumbai terrorist attacks. More
Former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf says India and Pakistan need to “bury the hatchet” and settle their differences to reduce poverty and ease tensions in the region. More
November 20: Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari endorses the liberalized visa agreement between Pakistan and India. More
Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid says despite many attempts made by the Indian government to contact Pakistan over the execution of 26/11 convict Ajmal Kasab, India did not get any positive response. More
November 22: India asks Pakistan to increase security at its high commission after the execution of militant Ajmal Kasab, who was hanged for his role in the 2008 Mumbai attacks. More
November 29: India assures a high-level Pakistani business delegation of steps to enhance mutual economic engagement through the setting up of bank branches in each other’s territory and opening up more trade routes. More
December
December 4: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says he wanted to visit Pakistan but the time was not right. More
Indian Junior Home Affairs Minister Mullappally Ramachandran says there were more than 40 training camps in Pakistan for militants who make regular attempts to cross the heavily fortified border between the countries. More
December 5: India and Pakistan confirm their interest in becoming full-fledged members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) as the group’s heads of governments meeting concludes. More
Pakistan and India will operationalise a landmark visa accord, signed in September, next week. More
December 7: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says India would like to see a “strong, stable and prosperous” Pakistan and that he is happy to see democracy flourish in India’s neighbour. More
December 12: India’s top court quashes the murder conviction of 82-year-old Pakistani Khalil Chisti who spent 20 years in jail, allowing him to return home in a move likely to help diplomatic ties. More
December 13: India sets aside Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik’s request for an appointment with Congress President Sonia Gandhi, with the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) officials viewing it as “out of line” with protocol. More
December 14: India and Pakistan seal an agreement to ease tough visa restrictions for travellers as the neighbours slowly rebuild relations. More
Interior Minister Rehman Malik says India and Pakistan would have to learn from their troubled past and look towards the future. More
December 15: Indian Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde says that terrorism is condemnable wherever it takes place. More
Interior Minister Rehman Malik says that during his visit to India, he raised the issue of Indian interference in Balochistan. More
December 16: Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, a separatist leader from Indian-administered Kashmir, urged rivals India and Pakistan to fully open the border. More
Interior Minister Rehman Malik says the people and governments of Pakistan and India want to live in peace and harmony, but they would have to identify, face and eradicate forces hampering their progress towards that goal. More
Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan says Pakistan and India are neighbours and relations between the two countries are necessary for maintaining peace in the region. More
December 17: Pakistan and India start implementation of the new visa regime following the operationalisation of the Bilateral Visa Agreement 2012. More
December 18: India calls a declaration that Pakistan’s intelligence service and its former chiefs enjoy immunity in a case related to the 2008 Mumbai attacks a “serious disappointment”. More
December 22: Pakistan and India should accept that Kashmir is not a bilateral issue but a trilateral matter and Kashmiris cannot be kept out of the process of dialogue between the two countries, says All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. More
December 27: Pakistan expresses serious apprehensions over a $2.9 billion India-Russia defence agreement, which was signed this week. More
Pakistan and India review implementation of existing confidence building measures (CBMs), including the ceasefire along the Line of Control in Kashmir, and exchange ideas to further advance the CBM process. More
Trade normalisation between India and Pakistan may hit a deadlock as Pakistan has not yet decided to implement its decision to grant Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India. More
December 28: Pakistan and India focus on existing nuclear CBMs, and also hold discussions on the possibility of additional mutually acceptable measures. More
December 30: The chief of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Azad Kashmir Abdur Rasheed Turrabi says discussions between Pakistan and India would not be fruitful until the latter took serious steps towards the resolution of the Kashmir issue. More
December 31: Commerce Minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim says Pakistan has delayed granting Most Favoured Nation-status to India and the abolition of a negative trade list “for a short time” because of reservations expressed by several industries. More
January
January 1:Pakistan’s Commerce Ministry is desperately lobbying to seek President Zardari’s support to end the opposition of farmers’ lobbies and some other groups to granting Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India. More
Pakistan and India exchange lists of their respective nuclear facilities as part of an agreement which bars the two neighbours from attacking each other’s nuclear installations. More
January 6: Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid cautions Pakistan that no substantive progress can be made in bilateral relations if New Delhi’s expectations from Islamabad are ignored in bringing the Mumbai terror suspects to justice. More
January 7: Senior US senators say that the world would observe the upcoming general elections in Pakistan with great interest. . More
January 8:India accuses Pakistan of sending troops across the line dividing the disputed region of Kashmir. More
The Pentagon says Pakistan and India could maintain peace in the region. More
January 9:Pakistan proposes a UN probe into two attacks across the Line of Control (LoC) and calls for insulating progress in bilateral ties from negative propaganda. More
January 10:Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar says Pakistan is serious about the dialogue process with India and hopes that recent incidents of firing across the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir will not derail the process. More
Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani says Pakistan has reservations over granting the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India. More
January 15: India’s government suspends a new programme to allow Pakistani pensioners to get visas on arrival at the border, citing technical glitches only hours after officials said it had begun. More
India’s army has reached an “understanding” with Pakistan to “de-escalate” military tensions in Kashmir after a recent deadly flare-up in the disputed border region, military spokesman Jagdeep Dahiya says. More
India’s prime minister Manmohan Singh says there could be no “business as usual” with Pakistan after a deadly flare-up in Kashmir. More
January 16: Pakistan’s foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar calls for talks with her Indian counterpart to ease tensions over deadly clashes in the disputed Kashmir region. More
January 17: Pakistan urges India to tone down the “Pakistan bashing” over a spate of military clashes in Kashmir between the nuclear-armed neighbours, and reiterates its offer of foreign minister-level talks to try to cool tensions. More
India has launched a major plan to construct underground shelters for storing missiles, rockets and ammunition close to the borders with Pakistan and China. More
January 19: India has not been influenced by any foreign country, including the United States, in pursuing peace dialogue with Pakistan despite recent hiccups, Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid says. More
January 22: Minister of State for Commerce Abbas Khan Afridi says recent violations at the Line of Control (LoC) by the Indian Army were a deliberate attempt to distract a popular civil society movement in India against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government. More
While speaking to Karan Thapar, Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid says the Indian government played no role in sending back Pakistani athletes and artists following the recent LoC hostilities. More
January 23: Cross-border tensions on the Line of Control (LoC) have eased after talks between India and Pakistan, but it is “too early” for India to normalise relations, Indian Defence Minister AK Anthony says. More
January 24: Indian President Pranab Mukherjee’s tells Pakistan that its hand of friendship should “not be taken for granted” following a string of deadly border clashes between the two sides in the disputed Kashmir region. More
January 27: Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar says Pakistan is committed to the Indo-Pak peace process for the settlement of all outstanding issues, but its nuclear neighbour must also show maturity and avoid escalation of tensions as that could impact the efforts for peace and stability. More
January 28: Indian High Commissioner Sharat Sabharwal insists that despite recent clashes on the Line of Control (LoC), the process of dialogue between India and Pakistan has not been affected. More
January 29: Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf says Pakistan looks forward to a constructive engagement with India to settle all outstanding problems, including the Kashmir dispute. More
Trade between India and Pakistan resumes over the de facto border in Kashmir after a 20-day halt sparked by deadly clashes. More
January 31: Senior Minister for Commerce Makhdoom Amin Fahim says Pakistan would soon award India with the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to further promote trade between the two neighboring countries. More
February 5: Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf says that Kashmir is not a land dispute between the two states; rather it is the issue concerning over 16 million Kashmiris living on both sides of Line of Control (LoC). More
February
February 6: Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar calls on India to exercise restraint and stop killing innocent Kashmiris in Occupied Kashmir. More
February 11: Commenting on the execution of Kashmiri leader Afzal Guru by India, Pakistan reaffirms its solidarity with the people of Jammu & Kashmir and expresses serious concern about the high-handedness of the Indian government with Kashmiris. More
February 12: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calls for a dialogue between India and Pakistan to ease tensions in Indian-held Kashmir that have escalated following the weekend execution of Kashmiri activist Afzal Guru. More
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says India wants peaceful existence with its neighbours but the recent alleged beheading of an Indian soldier by Pakistani troops was “against the norms of civilised international behaviour” and “unacceptable”. More
February 13: India officially protests against the third nuclear test by North Korea, which it sees as evidence of a clandestine proliferation network from Pakistan. More
February 19: The International Court of Arbitration at the Hague upholds India’s right to divert water from the Kishanganga hydroelectric project in Kashmir. More
February 22: According to the Indian Home Ministry, a specific warning of an attack by a ‘Pakistan-based terrorist group’ was shared by India’s central security agencies with Hyderabad police hours before two bombs there killed 16 people and wounded over a hundred. More
February 25: Interior Minister Rehman Malik demands a formal apology from India to Pakistan for implicating Manzar Imam, a deceased member of the Sindh Assembly from the Muttahida Quami Movement, in the recent bomb blasts in Hyderabad, India. More
The Pakistan government has postponed the grant of Most Favoured Nation (MFN) trade status to India for the time being, and the decision has been left for the next government. More
February 26: Former CIA officer, Bruce Riedel, one of the architects of President Obama’s Af-Pak policy in his first term, says resolution of the Kashmir dispute would make Pakistan a “more normal state” and reduce its preoccupation with India. More
Sen. Chuck Hagel, President Obama’s nominee for secretary of defence, said in 2011 that India has over the years financed problems for Pakistan from across the border in Afghanistan. More
PMLN Senator Ishaq Dar expresses serious reservations about the government’s handling of water disputes with India, urging it to take appropriate measures, as water is a matter of life and death for Pakistan. More
March
March 6: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says India is continuing to talk to Pakistan to normalise ties, but the latter is faltering on its part of the bargain with regard to terrorism. More
March 10: Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid says achieving success in efforts for resolving bilateral issues with Pakistan is “a time taking affair”. More
Indian Army chief Bikram Singh says his soldiers would not remain quiet if Pakistan violated the ceasefire. More
March 12: Some elements within the Indian state and other stakeholders are hindering trade between Pakistan and India, an analysis report prepared by a Pakistani intelligence agency reveals. More
March 13: Pakistan strongly rejects allegations by senior Indian officials about the country’s involvement in an attack on members of India’s Central Reserve Police Force and beheading of two Indian soldiers on the Line of Control. More
March 14: The Indian government opts against implementing a proposed group tourist visa facility as part of the liberalised visa regime with Pakistan from March 15. More
Despite the Indian home minister’s recent allegations that Pakistan was behind an attack in Srinagar, Foreign Affairs Minister Hina Rabbani Khar insists that the Pakistan-India peace process is essential for normalcy in the region. More
Foreign Minister Khar tells the Senate that no oil and gas exploratory activities by India have been reported in the disputed Sir Creek marshland. More
Foreign Minister Khar is leaving her office on the completion of the tenure of government, dismayed with India and sceptical about prospects of the resolution of core disputes, including Kashmir, in near future. More
March 15: The adviser to prime minister on water and agriculture, Kamal Majidullah, says that India has assumed an aggressive posture and that “some believe it intends to use water as a weapon”. More
March 17: Despite threats and clashes between the two arch-rivals, India still hopes that Pakistan would soon grant Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India, India’s top diplomat to the US, Nirupama Rao, says, adding that such a move would clear the ways for closer trade ties between the two neighbours. More
March 18: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed dismisses Indian allegations of Pakistan’s interference in Indian-administered Kashmir and reminds Delhi that Pakistan is a key party to the dispute as determined by United Nations Security Council resolutions. More
March 20: Pakistan categorically rejects reports in the Indian media regarding the judgement of the Indian Supreme implicating Pakistani government agencies in the deadly Mumbai blasts which killed 257 people in 1993. More
April
April 12: Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States Sherry Rehman says trade and people-to-people interactions between India and Pakistan can contain the fall-out of “flare-ups” like the recent killing and beheading of two Indian soldiers near the Line of Control in Kashmir. More
April 15: Pakistan maintains that construction of the Wullar barrage is in violation of the Indus Water Treaty (IWT). More
April 24: Interim Punjab Chief Minister Najam Sethi says Pakistan and India should follow the policy of peaceful coexistence and compete only in the field of economy and trade to bring prosperity to their people. More
April 27: Lodging a protest with the Pakistan Foreign Office over the attack on Sarabjit Singh in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail, Indian Minister of State for Home Affairs RPN Singh says that his country wants Islamabad to provide an explanation. More
April 29: Shyam Saran, convener of the National Security Advisory Board, says that India will not be the first to use nuclear weapons, but if it is attacked with such weapons, it would engage in nuclear retaliation which will be massive and designed to inflict unacceptable damage on its adversary. More
India asks Pakistan to take a humanitarian view of death row convict Sarabjit Singh’s case and release him. More
May
May 2:Indian death row prisoner and convicted terrorist/spy Sarabjit Singh’s body is brought to India after he died in a Pakistani hospital, succumbing to injuries six days after being attacked by his fellow inmates in a jail and pushing the India-Pakistan equation to a new low. More
Pakistani prisoner Sanaullah in Kot Bhalwal jail on the outskirts of Jammu in Indian-administered Kashmir is critically injured after being attacked by a fellow prisoner. More
May 3: The condition of Sanaullah Haq remains “very critical”, the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi says. More
Caretaker Prime Minister of Pakistan Justice (retd) Mir Hazar Khan Khoso calls upon his Indian counterpart to personally look into an incident of attack on Sanaullah, and ensure that a thorough investigation is conducted to bring perpetrators to justice. More
May 4: Pakistan’ envoy to India Salman Bashir demands from India the release of 47 Pakistani prisoners who have completed their prison terms and are languishing in various Indians prisons. More
May 5: Pakistan’s top diplomat in New Delhi is to pay a hospital visit to a Pakistani prisoner who was critically injured in an attack by an inmate in an Indian jail. More
May 6: Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid says the “hurt” caused by Sarabjit Singh’s death could prove a setback to efforts aimed at building good relations with Pakistan as India will “pause” the process of engagement in this regard. More
Foreign Office spokesman Aziz Ahmad Chaudhry asks India to arrange safe return of those prisoners who have completed terms of their punishment. More
India admits Sarabjit Singh was an agent for its Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) in Pakistan. More
May 7: Indian Border Security Forces open unprovoked fire at the working boundary in Sialkot district. More
The Foreign Office (FO) issues a travel advisory to Pakistani citizens travelling to various parts of India, stating that they should exercise due caution and care, as reports in the Indian media indicate a threat to their safety and security. More
May 8: Nawaz Sharif, seen as the front-runner in Pakistan’s election race, says he would not allow militant groups to attack rival India from his country and would work to improve ties with New Delhi if elected. More
Sanaullah. a Pakistani prisoner, dies after suffering injuries in an apparent tit-for-tat assault last week. More
May 10: Pakistan advises pilgrims planning to travel to Ajmer Sharif to cancel their visit due to disturbed security situation in India. More
May 12: India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh congratulates Pakistani politician Nawaz Sharif on his “emphatic victory” in historic elections and says he hopes for better relations. More
Indians salute the people of Pakistan for their determined fight to protect and advance democracy in their troubled country as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh invites the clear winner to New Delhi to resume the bonhomie cut short by a military coup that toppled Nawaz Sharif 14 years ago. More
May 13: Pakistan’s PM-in-waiting Nawaz Sharif says his government would establish friendly ties with India, adding that he would invite Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his oath-taking ceremony to Islamabad. More
India hopes Nawaz Sharif’s return to power in Pakistan will herald an upturn in ties between the nuclear rivals as long as he can keep the generals who ousted him in 1999 at bay. More
According to figures from the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics of the Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry, India, Pakistan’s exports to India in the last financial year (April 2012-March 2013) grew by 28 percent, reaching $513 million. More
May 14: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh rejects the invitation extended by Pakistan PM-in-waiting Nawaz Sharif to come to Pakistan for his oath taking ceremony. More
May 22: At least 45 Indian fishermen are released from Karachi’s Malir Prison and are to be handed over to Indian authorities at the Wagah border. More
May 29: India expects Pakistan’s incoming prime minister Nawaz Sharif to “convert into reality [the] positive signals” he had given during his election campaign, Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid says. More
Amid hopes that talks for the normalisation of trade with India will restart once the PML-N’s pro-business government assumes power, the European Union (EU) urges Pakistan to review its policy of giving preference to trading with the EU and instead focus on trade with India. More
May 31: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says that both he and Pakistan’s prime minister-designate Nawaz Sharif want to take bilateral relations forward and resolve outstanding issues peacefully. More
June
June 2: Indian Foreign Policy Council Chairman Dr. VP Vaidik appeals to the Pakistani and Indian governments to withdraw troops from Kashmir, as a first practical step towards peace. More
The head of Pakistan’s polio programme, Aziz Memon says that the country is taking assistance from India in its battle against the disease. More
Pakistan’s High Commission in New Delhi, lodges an official protest with the Indian government after its first secretary Zargham Raza was reportedly manhandled by an unidentified mob. More
June 3: Two individuals are arrested and charged in connection with an attack on a Pakistani diplomat in New Delhi, according to Indian media reports. More
The Indian foreign office secretary expresses regret and assures thorough investigations into an assault on a Pakistan diplomat in India, during a phone call to the Pakistan foreign office. More
A senior lawmaker from India’s ruling Congress party, Mani Shankar Aiyer states that Pakistan’s historic animosity toward New Delhi was fading and calls for his country to change its own attitudes. More
June 5: Indian Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde accuses Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency of trying to recruit and train militants to carry out attacks across the border in the Indian state of Punjab. More
June 6: Foreign Office spokesperson Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry strongly refutes the allegations by the Indian Home Minister that Pakistan’s intelligence agency was exporting terrorism to India. More
Dr TCA Raghavan has been appointed as the new Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan and is expected to take office by the end of June. More
June 7: The Indian Army accuses Pakistani troops of killing one of its officers near the disputed border in Kashmir. More
June 14: The Nawaz Sharif government is looking towards India to bail Pakistan out of its crippling energy crisis. As promised during the election campaign, attempts are also being made to ensure that other areas in trade between the two neighbours are put in the fast lane. More
Nawaz-led government looks seriously towards India to bail it out of the worst energy crisis facing the country. As promised during the election campaign, attempts are also being made to ensure that other areas in trade between the two neighbours are put in the fast lane. More
June 26: Pakistan is hopeful of a resumption of the stalled peace dialogue with India in a few weeks in which trade is likely to take precedence over core bilateral disputes. The Indian government has promised to send its proposals for resumption of talks. More
The Indian state gas utility GAIL proposes to lay a 110-km pipeline from Jalandhar to Wagah border via Amritsar in order to supply natural gas to Pakistan. More
Pakistan is hopeful of resumption of stalled peace dialogue with India in a few weeks in which trade is likely to take precedence over core bilateral disputes. The Indian government has promised to send its proposals for resumption of talks, which are being awaited.More
State gas utility GAIL has proposes to lay a 110-km pipeline from Jalandhar to Wagah border via Amritsar to supply natural gas to Pakistan. More
July
July 1: Prime Minister’s Adviser on Foreign Affairs and National Security, Sartaj Aziz says it is necessary for Pakistan and India to address all outstanding issues through confidence-building measures (CBMs), to ensure lasting peace and security in the region. More
July 5: Pakistani premier’s special envoy Shaharyar M. Khan meets Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and conveys Islamabad’s “sincere desire” to move forward on improving relations with India. These sentiments are warmly reciprocated by (Mr) Singh,” says the statement. More
July 24: Peace activists from Pakistan and India plan to celebrate the independence days of both the countries, on the midnight of August 14 and 15 this year at Khokhrapar (Sindh) and Monabao (Rajasthan) border. More
July 25: Elections alone cannot bring democracy but transparency and accountability in the governance system can really empower the citizen states Wajahat Habibullah, the chairman of India’s National Commission for Minorities. More
July 27: Pakistan lodges a protest with India over an unprovoked attack from across the Line of Control (LoC), in which a Pakistani soldier is killed and another injured. More
August
August 6: Rejecting the Indian media’s allegations of a cross-LoC attack, the Foreign Office reminds New Delhi about the importance of resuming the peace dialogue between the two countries and protecting the touchy ties from ‘negative media propaganda’. More
Two soldiers of Pakistan Army are seriously injured in unprovoked firing by Indian troops at the Pando Sector on LoC near Muzaffarabad, according to military officials. More
Members of the youth wing protesting against the alleged killing of five Indian soldiers by Pakistani forces at the Line of Control (LoC), try to enter the Pakistan High Commission. The protesters turn violent as they push back the police barricades and enter into a scuffle with the policemen. More
August 8: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif says he hopes the peace dialogue with India will remain intact, adding that Pakistan is willing to work with the neighbouring country to prevent recurrence of violent incidents along the Line of Control (LoC), which flare up bilateral tensions. More
The Lahore bound bus, Dosti bus, which was on its way from New Delhi before being stopped by protesters in Amritsar, safely arrives at its destination in Pakistan. More
August 11: Indian troops fire at Pakistani posts across the Line of Control (LoC) in the Nakial sector near Kotli and the Bajwat sector of the Sialkot working boundary, according to military sources. However, no loss of life is reported. More
Pakistan asks the Indian government to tighten security at Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) offices located in Mumbai and New Delhi after reported threats. More
August 12: India Foreign Office spokesperson, Syed Akbaruddin says India will not hold talks with Pakistan till matters of cross border firing and army are not fully resolved. According to the spokesperson, Pakistan should also take action against Hafiz Saeed in order to help the Pakistan-India relationship. More
August 13: India gives a clear indication that the killing of five of its soldiers on the Line of Control will delay the secretary-level talks with Pakistan, asserting that dialogue can only proceed in an environment free of violence and terror. More
August 14: The Indian parliament rejects a resolution passed by Pakistan’s National Assembly, saying it levelled “absolutely baseless and unfounded” allegations against India. It alleges that Pakistan Army was actually involved in “unprovoked” attack on the Line of Control (LoC) last week. More
August 15: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh warns Pakistan against “anti-India activity” as tensions rise over a deadly attack on Indian soldiers. More
Seven more civilians, including three women, are injured in Azad Jammu and Kashmir in unremitting ceasefire violations by Indian troops from across the Line of Control, official sources say. More
August 16: The Foreign Office all but hints that a meeting between prime ministers of India and Pakistan on sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly session next month, can be in doubt following renewed bilateral strains over the Line of Control. More
More than ninety Pakistanis allegedly detained in Indian jails are not on the radar of Indian authorities. A list of Pakistanis detained in India submitted to Pakistan’s high commissioner in India mentions 386 prisoners. More
August 17: Art becomes the latest victim of tensions along the Line of Control when an exhibition organised by the Mumbai-based International Creative Art Centre (Icac) and Islamabad’s Gallery-6 in Ahmedabad is vandalised by members of an extremist Hindu group. More
August 19: As India Pakistan exchange bullets along the LoC, it’s difficult to see them get on the table to negotiate the exchange of gas any time soon, says State gas utility GAIL Chairman and Managing Director B C Tripathi. More
Recognising the importance of Kashmir issue for Pakistan, which his Government continues to declare as jugular vein of the country, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif says India and Pakistan cannot afford more wars. More
The Senate passes a resolution to condemn Indian aggression along the Line of Control (LoC). The resolution condemns an attack on the Pakistan High Commission and demonstrations outside the PIA offices in New Delhi. More
Diplomatic sources say that Indian officials who recently visited Washington, have indicated that New Delhi remains interested in a meeting between Pakistani and Indian prime ministers in New York next month. More
Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony says India is running out of patience with Pakistan’s alleged army backed transgressions across disputed Kashmir, as firing spreads further north for the first time since the two armies agreed on a ceasefire in 2003. More
August 22: A Pakistan Army officer Captain Muhammad Sarfraz Khan embraces Shahadat as a result of unprovoked shelling by Indian troops last night at the Shakma sector (near Skardu) on the Line of Control (LOC), says a military official. More
August 23: Two Pakistani soldiers are killed and two others are injured as a result of two separate incidents of unprovoked firing by Indian troops at the Line of Control (LoC). More
August 24: US Secretary of State John Kerry telephones Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and discusses with him the situation on the Line of Control (LoC) with special reference to recent violations by India. More
August 26: Emphasising the need for resolution of all issues with India through dialogue, President Asif Zardari asks India to stop violations at the Line of Control (LoC) during a meeting with the AJK Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed. More
Good neighbourly ties are beneficial not only for Pakistan but also for India, said Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar. Addressing the Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) he says said that the leadership of the two countries should realise this and resolve their issues through negotiation. More
August 27: The Indian troops continue violation of the ceasefire agreement by firing mortar shells, rockets and automatic weapons on forward Pakistani posts along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Lanjot Sector, in which four civilians sustained injuries. More
August 28: In its detailed “Policy Notes” for the Nawaz Sharif government, issued in the midst of mounting tension between Islamabad and New Delhi, the World Bank asks Pakistan to give India the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status. More
August 31: Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz tells the National Assembly that Pakistan sincerely wants the resolution of the Kashmir issue with India but there were contradictions in the latter’s point of view on the issue. More
September
September 1: Two Pakistani civilians are injured in Indian’s unprovoked firing and shelling on the Line of Control (LoC). Violation of the ceasefire agreement at the Line of Control (LoC) from the Indian side continues as unprovoked shelling and firing by Indian troops is reported in the Bajwat Sector of Sialkot. More
September 2: External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid says India will take a decision on possible talks between Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and Nawaz Sharif in New York next month after assessing steps Pakistan takes to address their concerns on recent ‘unacceptable’ incidents. More
September 4: Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani visits the troops deployed at forward locations along the Line of Control (LoC) and expresses full satisfaction over their state of morale, operational preparedness and vigil. More
September 13: Adviser to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz says that Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khursheed agreed that India and Pakistan should respect 2003 Line of Control ceasefire agreement. More
September 16: The armies of India and Pakistan fire at each other’s positions on the line of control (LoC) in Mendhar Sector of frontier Poonch District, Kashmir. More
September 18: India’s former foreign secretary Shyam Saran states in an article that freezing peace dialogue with Pakistan would not help India much in the South Asian and global context. The article is on whether or not Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should meet his Pakistan counterpart Nawaz Sharif in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. More
India issues seven-day visas for the Pakistani judicial commission that will visit the country on September 21 to cross-examine the Mumbai terror attack witnesses and carry forward the much-delayed trial. More
The Indian government releases nine Pakistani prisoners at Wagah Border, who had been arrested for different charges including having expired visas. More
Seven Pakistani fishermen have been taken into custody by the Indian navy personnel from near the Kajhar Creek. More
September 21: A seven-member Pakistani judicial commission arrives in India to take forward the prosecution of seven suspects, including Laskar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, and cross-examine and re-examine four prosecution witnesses in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks case. More
September 26: Kashmiri fighters dressed in Indian army uniforms attack Indian police and soldiers near the Line of Control, killing nine people. More
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says in a statement that the attack in Indian-held Kashmir would not derail efforts to pursue peace through dialogue. More
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry states at a news briefing that the Pakistani and Indian prime ministers will discuss a whole range of issues in their September 29 meeting, which is aimed at reducing tensions and resumption of peace process. More
September 28: Manmohan Singh warns while addressing the UN General Assembly, that Pakistan must stop being “the epicenter of terrorism” if it wants better ties. More
September 29: Manmohan Singh and Nawaz Sharif agree to reduce tensions along the Line of Control in Kashmir as the first step towards a comprehensive peace in the region, after meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. More
September 30: Nawaz Sharif tells reporters on his arrival at Heathrow airport that dialogue is the only way forward in normalising the situation between the two neighbouring countries, after attending a session of the UN General Assembly. More
October
October 1: Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif states that India and Pakistan should resolve all issues through composite dialogue in the interest of progress and prosperity and durable peace in the region, during a meeting with Indian High Commissioner T.C.A. Raghavan in Lahore. More
October 5: Speaking to reporters after a briefing of the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs in Islamabad, Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani states that Pakistan has shared with India evidence of foreign interference in Balochistan and has raised the issue at every relevant forum. More
October 7: While debunking reports about Pakistani infiltration in Keran sector of India-held Kashmir at a press conference at Hyderabad (Deccan), Pakistan High Commissioner to India Salman Bashir takes a swipe at Indian media, saying ‘Pakistan bashing’ has become its ‘favourite pastime’. More.
October 9: A spokesman for the Inter-Services Public Relations, the military’s public relations wing, denies Indian accusations of Pakistani soldiers being involved in a reported clash on the Indian side of the Line of Control (LoC). More
India’s External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid states that the Indian prime minister has said there is no option but to trust [in the dealing of countries with each other], but the trust must be matched with our readiness and our insistence on verification. More
October 17: Salman Bashir says that both sides need to take steps to stabilize the situation at the disputed border, and that Pakistan is prepared to do whatever it can to exercise utmost restraint and responsibility in this regard. More
October 19: Pakistan accuses Indian troops of killing a civilian and wounding two others in “unprovoked firing” across the border as New Delhi voiced “grave concern” about the new military flare-up in disputed Kashmir. A statement was made by a Pakistani military official in Islamabad. More
October 20: The Indian Border Security Forces (BSF) continue firing on the Pakistani border for the fifth consecutive day. According to Chenab Rangers officials, the Indian forces fired at Bajwat, Chaprar, Sucheetgarh and Shakargarh sectors of the Sialkot Working Boundary intermittently. More
India rejects Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s suggestion for US mediation in the Kashmir dispute. In an interview to NDTV in New Delhi, Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid says it would be a waste of time to question Delhi’s claim over the troubled region. More
October 22: At a press conference in Islamabad, PML-N Chairman Raja Zafarul Haq rejects the “out of box” solution on Kashmir dispute by declaring the UNO resolutions the only “way out” to settle the long standing conflict between Pakistan and India. More
India’s Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) Lt Gen Vinod Bhatia calls up his Pakistani counterpart to discuss issues of the ceasefire violations, via hotline. More
Speaking at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif vows to go the “extra mile” to make peace with India, saying the historic rivals can resolve all issues including Kashmir through dialogue. More
November
November 7: In New Delhi, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin, says that the impending talks between the External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid and his Pakistani counterpart Sartaj Aziz, will depend on peace along the LoC. More
November 23: Pakistan along with Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and India signs the Transaction Advisory Services Agreement (TASA) with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) at Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. More.
While addressing the inaugural session of the 4th Alhamra International Literary and Cultural Conference in Lahore, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif says that Pakistan-bashing is still going on in India during election campaigns, which he deemed as being counter-productive. More.
November 24: A protest rally is held in Muzzaffarabad against an Indian plan of constructing a concrete wall along the Line of Control (LoC) as well as along the working boundary in Sialkot sector. Participants in the rally include Kashmiri refugees from 1989 and the Pasban-e-Hurriyat. More
November 25: ‘India will not be satisfied until Pakistan gives maximum punishment to the perpetrators of 26/11 Mumbai attack’ says Indian Defence Minister AK Antony. More
Indian external affairs ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin tweets that Pakistan has handed over the belongings of Indian spy Sarabjit Singh to the Indian Mission in Islamabad. More.
November 27: The President of the Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SGCCI) Kamlesh Yagnik, says during a meeting with Pakistani businessmen at Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) that the Chamber is preparing a case for easing the visa policy towards Pakistani businessmen with the concerned authorities in India. More
In Lahore, the members of an Indian delegation,= cross the Attari-Wagha border on foot for the two-day ‘South Asia Conclave & Gold Tournament and ask for the allowance of maximum people-to-people contacts between India and Pakistan. More
December
December 4: Indian PM Manmohan Singh cautions that if there is a war over Kashmir, then Pakistan is not going to win it. His comments came after his Pakistani counterpart PM Nawaz Sharif is reported to have said in an address in Muzaffarabad that such a conflict could be the case given that the region is a perennial flashpoint. More
December 5: Speaking at an event organized by the Pakistani High Commission in India, the Senior Vice President of South Asian Chamber of Commerce and Industry(SACCI) says that India should start the process of composite dialogue with Pakistan at the earliest. More
Radio Pakistan reports that the Adviser to the Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz says the presence of Indian forces on Siachen Glacier is harmful to the environment and demands that they withdraw from the area. More
December 6: Foreign Office spokesman Aizaz Chaudhry states at a weekly media briefing that Pakistan believes in engagement and dialogue with India, and not war, for the resolution of outstanding disputes, including Kashmir. More
December 12: PM Nawaz Sharif, in an introductory meeting with the Indian High Commissioner Dr. TCA Raghvan in Islamabad, says that his government is committed to improving relations with India, adding that the normalization process must remain on track. More
December 17: The US asks India to accept Pakistan’s suggestion for including civilian diplomats in the proposed DGMOs’ dialogue for reducing tensions along the LoC, because it believes that such a move would help strengthen the civilian government in Pakistan. More
December 24: DGMOs’ of Pakistan and India conclude their meeting at Wagah, discussing a mechanism to ease tension and ensure peace at the LoC. More
December 26: Pakistan’s Minister for Information Pervaiz Rashid suggests during a speech to mark the birth anniversary of the Quaid-e-Azam that cooperation, rather than confrontation between Pakistan and India is in the interest of entire region. More
JANUARY 2014
January 1: India and Pakistan exchange lists of their nuclear facilities as part of a 1988 pact that bars them from attacking each other’s nuclear installations. More
January 8: Pakistan and India announce the resumption of secretary-level trade talks in New Delhi on January 14 to agree on fresh timelines for implementing the roadmap for removing bottlenecks in trade liberalisation. More
January 18: A Brigadier-level meeting of military officials from the Pakistani and Indian armies takes place at Rawalakot-Poonch to discuss ways to strengthen the ceasefire along the LoC. More
In a bid to strengthen bilateral relations, Trade ministers of Pakistan and India decide in a meeting in New Delhi to allow greater trade through the land route, signaling a thaw in relations after a year-long standoff due to military tensions on the border. More
January 22: India summons Pakistan Deputy High Commissioner in connection with the suspension of Srinagar-Muzaffarabad and Rawalakot-Poonch bus services by Pakistan. The suspension took place after Pakistan demanded the release of its national arrested for allegedly smuggling narcotics worth 1 billion rupees across the LoC. More
January 28: A meeting held at the Chakothi-Uri crossing point between officials from both sides of the Line of Control (LoC) fails to end the 11-day standoff over intra-Kashmir travel and trade. The Indians refused to meet the demands of the AJK team for the return of all 49 drivers held by Indian authorities, including one who has been booked on the charge of drug trafficking. More
January 29: In a meeting between Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry and Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Dr TCA Raghavan on the sidelines of a diplomatic reception, Pakistan reiterates its desire and resolve for normalization of bilateral relations with India through early resumption of composite dialogue in the interest of peace and stability in the region. More
FEBRUARY 2014
February 4: The National Assembly in Pakistan passes a resolution moved by the Parliament’s Kashmir Committee Chairman Fazlur Rehman, which reiterates Pakistan’s moral, political and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri people, calling upon India to withdraw its armed forces from the occupied territory. More
February 5: An Indian fisherman dies in Landhi prison after a month-long illness, becoming the second Indian fisherman to suffer this fate after another death after the same prison in December. More
Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif extends an invitation on Kashmir Solidary Day to the Indian leadership to resolve the Kashmir issue through dialogue. More
February 7: Indian Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur states that India was ready to hold talks with Pakistan on all outstanding issues and was committed to resolving all problems through peaceful bilateral dialogue in an environment free from violence and terror. More
February 17: Indian High Commissioner Dr TCA Raghavan suggests at a meeting with President Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) Dr Shimail Daud Arain that promoting bilateral trade relations between the two neighboring countries could open new horizons in their relationship with each other. More
February 20: In a briefing to the National Assembly Standing Committee on Interior, the Pakistani interior ministry alleges that India is waging a ‘cold war’ against the country through by stoking terrorism through proxies. More
March 2014
March 2: Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid says hat India wants to bring composite dialogue process on track, but the situation in Pakistan has led to a change in the scenario. More
March 3: Abdul Basit, High Commissioner-designate of Pakistan to India arrives in New Delhi to take up his new role. More
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