India and Pakistan: States of high tension

Narendra Modi’s visit to Pakistan at Christmas didn’t prevent an attack a week later on an Indian air base. The two countries are locked in a see-saw relationship, says Shashi Tharoor

INDIAN prime minister Narendra Modi’s surprise visit to Lahore, Pakistan, on Christmas Day, brought his hyperkinetic year of global diplomacy to a headline-grabbing close. It also raised questions about the fraught relationship between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.

Since Modi took office, in May, 2014, India-Pakistan relations have had more ups and downs than a child’s yo-yo.