IN SURPRISE MOVE, MODI FLIES TO LAHORE TO MEET PAK PM SHARIF

theclarionindia

9 years ago

**Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan during their first meeting at the Hyderabad House in New Delhi last year.**

LAHORE — Indian premier Narendra Modi will land at Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport shortly, where he will be received by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, said a statement from the Pakistan Prime Minister House, reported Dawn newspaper.

This will be the first visit to Pakistan by an Indian premier in more than a decade.

Security in and around the Allama Iqbal International Airport has been beefed up.

Earlier today, in a message on Twitter, Indian premier Narendra Modi said he spoke to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and wished him on his birthday.

In a surprise announcement, Modi said he will stop over in Lahore later today, on his way to New Delhi from Afghanistan.

Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj, responding to Modi’s announcement, said on Twitter: “That’s like a statesman. Such should be the relationship between neighbors.”

The Indian prime minister arrived in Kabul on Friday, where he inaugurated the country’s new parliament building, a project initiated by the Indian government in 2007 as a mark of friendship and cooperation to help rebuild war-torn Afghanistan.

The last meeting between Modi and Nawaz took place in November on the sidelines of the 21st UN Climate Change Conference in Paris, where the two premiers exchanged pleasantries and had a friendly chat.

In a breakthrough, Pakistan and India earlier this month agreed to reinitiate a comprehensive dialogue process during Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s visit to Islamabad for the ‘Heart of Asia’ conference.

Since Modi’s ascent to power, tensions between the two countries have remained high, with foreign secretary-level talks cancelled last year and security advisers’ dialogue abandoned in August this year.

But the relationship thawed after Modi and Sharif resumed high-level contacts with a brief conversation at a climate change summit in Paris last month and their national security advisers met in Bangkok earlier this month.

The brief and unannounced meeting between the two security advisers in Bangkok and a joint statement they issued showed New Delhi rowing back from its recent position and agreeing to discuss Jammu and Kashmir in the otherwise familiar mix of issues.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister’s Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz told the National Assembly that the foreign secretaries of Pakistan and India will meet soon to discuss modalities regarding the bilateral dialogue which will include matters related to peace and security, Jammu and Kashmir, Siachen, Sir Creek, Wullar Barrage, Tulbul Navigation Project, economic and commercial cooperation, counter-terrorism, narcotics control and humanitarian issues, people to people exchanges and religious tourism.

Swaraj told the Indian parliament last week that war is not an option and dialogue is the way forward with Pakistan to fight the ‘shadow of terror’.–Dawn