Following resumption of cricket ties, Zardari writes to Singh

E-Paper | March 03, 2026

Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari shakes hands with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after their meeting in New Delhi on April 9. Zardari has reportedly written a letter to Singh following the resumption of cricket ties between Pakistan and India, expressing optimism over the improvement of relations between the two countries. – File photo by AP

ISLAMABAD: Building up on the resumption of bilateral cricket ties between Pakistan and India, President Asif Ali Zardari has written a letter to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, DawnNews reported on Wednesday.

The president has expressed hope to the Indian PM that the resumption of cricket ties will lead to an improvement in the relationship between the neighbours.

Citing official sources, DawnNews has reported that President Zardari has relayed optimism for the improvement of people-to-people contact and a stronger bond of trust between India and Pakistan.

Pakistan’s president met with PM Singh this April, when he visited the Indian capital on his way to Ajmer Sharif. Zardari, along with his entourage, visited the shrine of sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti on April 9, to pay their respects and the president and PM held a short meeting over lunch. Zardari and Singh reportedly discussed matters pertaining to security, improvement of bilateral ties and sought solutions to problems affecting the countries’ bilateral relationship.

Indian cricket officials, on Monday, invited the Pakistan cricket team for a limited-over series between December and January. The proposed series will be the first between the two countries since the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai.

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NASAH (USA)

Jul 18, 2012 03:04pm

Lock Hafiz Saeed up -- or at least ban him from public gatherings -- if Pakistan wants deeper relationship with the Indians. What Terrorist Saeed did to Mumbai -- if the Indians did to Karachi -- will you be friends withe the Indians?

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sandeep

Jul 18, 2012 03:54pm

When you write a letter to Indian prime minister, you must also think about writing to militancy group to not do anything wrong that could really create a mess between the neighbors. as far as the people-to-people relation is concern, I think not a single Indian is interested in that until and unless the militant activities and attacks from Pakistani side to Indian territory is not stopped.

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Sayyar

Jul 18, 2012 04:12pm

What a nice article ...Zardari can WRITE !!!! :)

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Dilawer

Jul 18, 2012 04:01pm

Agree with you. We need to do more than symbolic locking up of people. We need to exchange intellectuals and India need to allow their professor and high prominence academic people to exchange ideas with Pakistani academia.

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Syed

Jul 18, 2012 04:59pm

@ Sandeep and Nasah (USA) - Lock up Uddhav Thackeray and other Shiv Sena supporters then you have the right to demand the "lock" up of Hafiz Saeed. Till then, you have no right to demand or dictate what the Pakistani government should be doing ...

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Nadeem Mirza

Jul 18, 2012 10:17pm

I live in US and have quite a few NRIs came to me and talked about the revival of all kind of ties.

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ali

Jul 19, 2012 04:19am

Improving relations with neighbors is important,but Zardari should focus on economic development, controlling the law and order situation particularly in Karachi and power crisis.His government has failed in all these areas.

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VLRA

Jul 19, 2012 06:49am

i hope Zardari's letter didnt get deviated to Swiss authorities!....if it did, then maybe it will be a historical moment in the history of Pakistan and solve all its problems.

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