New Delhi/ Nagpur: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be meeting his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on his way back to India from Kabul.
Looking forward to meeting PM Nawaz Sharif in Lahore today afternoon, where I will drop by on my way back to Delhi.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 25, 2015
“Looking forward to meeting PM Nawaz Sharif in Lahore today afternoon, where I will drop by on my way back to Delhi. Spoke to PM Nawaz Sharif and wished him on his birthday,” Modi said in a series of tweets moments after inaugurating the new building of Afghanistan Parliament in Kabul.
Spoke to PM Nawaz Sharif & wished him on his birthday.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 25, 2015
Modi’s unscheduled stopover in Lahore to meet Sharif has surprised many. He is scheduled to visit Pakistan next year to attend SAARC Summit, scheduled to be held in September 2016.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the last Indian Prime Minister to visit Pakistan who had visited Islamabad in January 2004 to attend the SAARC Summit besides holding talks with then Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf.
That’s like a statesman. Padosi se aise hi rishte hone chahiyen. https://t.co/dM26am9tWf
— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) December 25, 2015
Modi’s tweets announcing his unscheduled pitstop in Lahore came just after the prime minister inaugurated the new building of Afghanistan Parliament in Kabul.
Addressing a joint session of the two Afghan Houses in the new Parliament building along with President Ashraf Ghani, Modi, in an apparent reference to Pakistan, made it a point to mention that New Delhi has been helping Kabul inorder to lay down the foundation stone of a new relationship between both the countries.
“India is here to contribute not to compete, to lay the foundations of future, not light the flame of conflict,” Modi told Afghan lawmakers.
“Nurseries and sanctuaries of terrorism must be shut. Terror and violence cannot be the instrument to shape Afghanistan’s future or dictate the choices Afghans make,” he said.
After months of deadlock, there was a thaw in relationship between India and Pakistan earlier this month when the two nuclear capable neighbouring countries agreed to restart the composite dialogue between them.
The agreement was made days after Modi met Sharif briefly in Paris on the sidelines of Climate Summit. The meeting of the two leaders over shadowed the meeting of world leaders in Paris for climate talks.The brief pull aside meeting, which lasted 167 seconds, was then described as just a courtesy call by Indian officials.