Pakistan PM to attend Modi's inauguration
Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is to attend the inauguration of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister of India on Monday.
It is the first time since the two countries won independence in 1947 that a prime minister from one state will attend such a ceremony in the other.
The two nuclear-armed rivals have fought three wars in the past 60 years.
Modi is seen as a hardliner on national security issues. His BJP party advocates a tough stance on Pakistan.
But correspondents say his huge election victory gives him a mandate to reach out to Pakistan in a way the previous administration could not.
Bilateral ties suffered badly in the wake of the 2008 attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai, when 166 people were killed by Pakistani gunmen.
Relations improved slightly under outgoing PM Manmohan Singh, but there are still regular skirmishes on the disputed border in Kashmir.
Singh was invited to Sharif's inauguration last year but did not attend.
Modi and Sharif are both political conservatives who campaigned on pro-business platforms.
However, many Pakistanis view Modi, a Hindu nationalist, with suspicion.
As chief minister of the state of Gujarat, he was accused of doing little to stop the violence during the 2002 communal riots in which more than 1,000 people - mostly Muslims - died.
Modi has always denied the accusations and was never charged.
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