GAH is a little village that lies between Islamabad and Lahore in Pakistan, which is hoping to welcome India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Manmohan Singh is likely to visit Pakistan. Gah might be on his crowded itinerary. I.K Gujral too visited his birthplace, Jhelum, five decades after he left it after partition in 1947.

This is a typical South Asian Story of a people divided. For instance Musharraf was born in a Delhi by lane and Zia ul Haq was born in Jalandhar in the Indian Punjab. There are many stories like that. The story, with all its nostalgia for the past and hopes for the future, will unfold yet again if Manmohan visits Pakistan in a changed scenario after the February election, which has thrown up a new political leadership.

Manmohan’s substantial talks will be with Premier Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, besides the new leadership of Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif.  The mood is definitely conciliatory. New Delhi feels the dialogue can resume for Islamabad. But Indians cannot easily forget Kargil. Nor do they want a repeal of the diplomatic fiasco at Agra. Then, all through 2007, the political situation in Pakistan was unsettled. Now, with an elected Government in Islamabad, a major hurdle to visiting Pakistan has been removed. No dates have been worked out, but senior officials say Manmohan would prefer to go before August, when the 60th year of independence of the sub continental twins expires.

Although Manmohan had earlier been ready to do talks with Musharraf, he would be even more ready to talk to the new combine having a political mandate. The conditions seem so propitious that they might even discuss pulling back from Siachen glacier, where troops have been accelerating the peace process and establishing a co-operative framework for our bilateral relations. The resumption of what is called the composite dialogue that takes in all issues, including Kashmir, on hold for a year now, will be one of the first tasks on the bilateral agenda once the Gilani Government settles down. For the native of Gah, peace with Pakistan will probably be the perfect tale to take to his grandchildren from his years in office.

Things went for a toss in Pakistan, with the dismissal of the chief justice. With the prospect of a prime ministerial visit to Pakistan looming large, expectations from such a trip are, obviously, high. At the same time, there is appreciation that political equations in Pakistan are still to be settled and the Manmohan Government is months away from a general election. More trade is also on the cards. Mutual confidence-building has picked up pace through soft diplomacy. Exchange of those who have been long in each other’s prisons has begun. The new Government in Islamabad is likely to consider a visa-free regime for Indians.

There are happy tidings from the world of films, too. The first Pakistan film since 1965, Khuda Ke Liye, has been released commercially in cinema halls across India. It has touched Indian hearts for its bold treatment of a difficult but universal theme-terrorism.  Fingers crossed that India-Pakistan relations improve more over the period of time.