Sharif waiting for new Indian leadership: Pakistan daily

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif may be waiting for a new leadership in India to emerge, and if it is the BJP, he may hope that he will be able to rekindle his rapport with it in a repeat of 1998, a Pakistani daily said Monday.

"Ever since the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government has come to power - and even before, that is during its election campaign - moving closer to India has been a goal close to now-premier Nawaz Sharif's heart," The Nation said in its editorial.

The editorial said the inertia over India-Pakistan normalisation would be difficult to break as "unexpected occurrences happen with disappointing regularity".

"It doesn't help that it's election season in India and an anti-Pakistan rhetoric can help shore up votes," the daily said.

Describing India as a huge market, the daily said: "India's booming economy, it would seem, is the one lifeline he (Sharif) saw and with increasing confidence still sees as the way to give Pakistan's economy a bit of momentum."

"Whether this is another mirage, or a realisable dream, the world and the people of Pakistan and India will have to wait to find out," it added.