DHAKA: Pakistan said Wednesday it was ‘encouraged’ by comments from arch rival India’s election frontrunner Narendra Modi who stressed cooperation with foreign governments if he was elected prime minister.

Hindu nationalist hardliner Modi and his opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) party are expected to vault to power at mammoth elections underway in India after a decade of centre-left Congress party rule.

Critics fear Modi will adopt a tough foreign policy that could see relations deteriorate with traditional rival Pakistan and neighboring emerging market giant China.

But Pakistan High Commissioner Abul Basit said he welcomed Modi’s comments in a television interview late Tuesday that he would pursue the policies followed by former BJP premier Atal Behari Vajpayee, reports The Straits Times.

BDST: 2010 HRS, APR 23, 2014