Anaylsts see the invitation from India's prime minister elect as a bold step to launch a policy of regional engagement
If Nawaz Sharif were to attend the ceremony, it would be a first in the history of the two states, which both have nuclear arsenals and have fought four wars since gaining their independence from Britain in 1947. Repeated bids to improve relations have failed, though there have been incremental gains over the last decade.
Sharif, who won elections last year to become Pakistan's prime minister for the third time, is among eight leaders of the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) invited to attend Modi's swearing in next Monday.
"It's an important gesture … as the largest country in the region, India should be reaching out to its neighbours. This is a very accident-prone relationship, but very intimate too on another level. We are cousins in a very real sense," said Raja C Mohan, one of India's most respected foreign affairs analysts.
Nirmala Sitharaman, a spokeswoman from Modi's Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), said all the SAARC countries had been invited through the proper channels.
The invite poses a dilemma for Sharif, who leads the conservative pro-business Pakistan Muslim League, as many in the country and elsewhere in the Muslim world see the 63-year-old Modi as a hardline Hindu nationalist who harbours sectarian prejudices.
Aziz Ahmed Khan, a retired diplomat who served as Pakistan's high commissioner to Delhi, said Modi had been "really very shrewd" with an invitation that the government will find it hard to respond to.
"On the one hand it's a good gesture that should be taken as a sign of peacemaking by Modi, but at the same time the baggage that he carries makes it very difficult for the government. There is a widespread belief in Pakistan that he was behind the massacres in Gujarat."
Modi has been accused of allowing, or even encouraging, mob violence in the western Indian state in 2002. About 1,000 people, mainly Muslims, were killed in rioting that followed an arson attack on a train in which 59 Hindu pilgrims died. Modi, who had been appointed Gujarat's chief minister the year before, has denied any wrongdoing. "I'm sure the government must be in a huddle wondering what to do," Khan said.
There was no official response from Islamabad several hours after the announcement, but officials at Pakistan's high commission in Delhi confirmed they had received a formal invitation. A meeting with counterparts at the Indian foreign ministry was scheduled for early evening.
"Then we will see what is the substance of it," one said. More details visit http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/21/narendra-modi-invites-pakistan-nawaz-sharif-inauguration
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