PM Modi, Nawaz Sharif exchange pleasantries under shadow of Kulbhushan row

None of the issues which kept them apart for two years is resolved; outlook for progress is not good

Astana (Kazakhstan): Eighteen months after their last meeting – in Lahore, under happier circumstances – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi came face-to-face with his Pakistani counterpart here on Thursday. All that transpired in this fleeting encounter is that Modi inquired after Sharif’s health. Though this encounter may possibly act as a breaker on the sharp escalation in tensions between the two countries, the gulf that has grown between them is difficult to bridge – as evidenced by the meeting the same day in distant Holland, where Indian and Pakistani officials sat down at the International Court of Justice to discuss