Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has written back to Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanking him for his Pakistan Day greetings and stressing the need for creating a conducive environment for a constructive dialogue.

Modi’s greeting and Khan’s response are routine exercises which were undertaken even when relations had hit a particularly bad stretch after India decided to change the constitutional contours of Jammu and Kashmir on August 5, 2019.

This round of communication between the two Premiers comes after a month-long thaw in the relationship following the decision to revert to the 2003 ceasefire along the Line of Control.

As always, the Pakistan Prime Minister brought up Jammu & Kashmir; maintaining that “durable peace and stability in South Asia is contingent upon resolving all outstanding issues between India and Pakistan, in particular the Jammu & Kashmir dispute’’.

Further, he said: “Creation of an enabling environment is imperative for a constructive and result-oriented dialogue’’. Earlier this month, while addressing the Islamabad

Security Dialogue, Khan had said that India would have to take the first step to normalise relations; indicating that the August 5 moves of New Delhi had made it difficult for Islamabad to take the initiative.

In his letter to the Pakistan Prime Minister on March 23, Modi had said: “As a neighbouring country, India desires cordial relations with the people of Pakistan. For this, an environment of trust, devoid of terror and hostility, is imperative.’’

Though the two countries have taken tentative steps in improving relations after the ceasefire agreement with the first meeting on Indus water sharing in two years and a sports event in recent weeks, India has not yet revealed its cards on resuming dialogue with Pakistan.