With Pakistan increasingly facing international isolation and its economy faltering, the country quietly reached out to India requesting resumption of the stalled peace talks
The country, however, received a lukewarm response to the truce talks offer, reports The New York Times.
The move, initiated by Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, began months before the country's general elections in July. Pakistan has been offering to resume talks with India on the issue of resolving the Kashmir dispute since 2015 when the talks ended after violence flared up in the valley.
One of the main objectives for Pakistan to reach out to India is to open barriers to trade between the countries, which would give Pakistan access to regional markets. With talks on Kashmir starting, Pakistan believes it will likely lead to an increase in bilateral trade as a confidence-building measure.
Pakistan's military sees the poor state of the economy as a threat to national security as it can aggravate the insurgencies plaguing the country.
Pakistan is likely to request the International Monetary Fund for a $9 billion loan after China bailed it out with several billions of dollars in aid earlier in the year.
Information Minister Fawad Chaudhary says the country wants to move forward and have the best of ties with all neighbours, including India.
"Gen Bajwa says regions prosper and not countries. India can't prosper at the cost of Pakistan," said Chaudhary.
In a speech last October, Gen Bajwa linked Pakistan's economy to the region's security, saying they are inseparable. This has since become known as the Bajwa doctrine. He is also seen as more moderate than his predecessors when it comes to India.
Earlier in the year, he said the conflict between the two countries can only be resolved by dialogue, a rare statement coming from the military, which has always maintained a hawkish stance towards India.
Gen Bajwa and his Indian counterpart Gen Bipin Rawat served together in Congo during a UN peacekeeping mission and they get along well.
Gen Bajwa tried to reach out to Gen Rawat to initiate talks but failed as the government is preoccupied with the upcoming general elections next year. India doesn't want talks before the elections fearing that if they stall again, it would prove costly for the BJP at the polls.
"The betterment in ties can't be expected before the Indian elections. We have to wait till after the elections when a new government is in power," said Chaudhary.
The new Pakistan government under Prime Minister Imran Khan has strongly advocated the need of talks despite the military controlling the foreign and defence policy.
That the military would initiate such a major policy decision even before the new government was in power suggests that it was confident that Imran Khan, its preferred candidate, would win.
Analysts on both sides say talks have a better chance of success with Imran in office as it is widely believed that he is army's man and his outreach has the military's backing.
Even China wants Pakistan to reach out to India as it wants the border with India stabilized as it pursues its economic ambitions in the region.
With an investment of $62 billion in Pakistan, mostly garnered by infrastructure projects linked to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, China wants Pakistani troops deployed on the border with India to be withdrawn and deployed in the west of the country, through which the most of the Chinese trade routes pass.
Insurgents, including Baloch separatists, who oppose the building of Chinese infrastructure in their territory, are active in Western Pakistan and they carry out attacks not only on roads, bridges and buildings but also Chinese personnel working on the CPEC project.
