In surprise visit, Indian PM Modi briefly stops in Pakistan

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made a surprise stop in the Pakistani city of Lahore to meet his counterpart, Nawaz Sharif, the first visit to Pakistan by an Indian premier in more than a decade.

“It was a goodwill visit and the two sides chose to understand each other’s reservations and restart the comprehensive dialogue in a positive manner”, Chaudhry told reporters after the meeting.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is greeted by his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on his arrival in Lahore on Friday.

Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry said Sharif responded, “Please come, you are our guest, please come and have tea with me”, Reuters reported.

He described Modi’s trip as a “good-will visit”, adding that both leaders agreed to try to move forward talks in a positive way. He also delivered three Mi-25 attack helicopters and 500 new scholarships for “the children of the martyrs of Afghan security forces”, making a point of acknowledging Pakistan’s concerns about the Indian presence in Afghanistan.

“Afghanistan will succeed only when terrorism no longer flows across the border; when nurseries and sanctuaries of terrorism are shut; and, their patrons are no longer in business”, Modi said.

Also, two weeks ago, Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj visited Pakistan to attend a meeting on Afghanistan. Modi arrived in Pakistan on Friday, his first visit as prime minister to this Islamic nation that has been India’s long-standing archrival in the region.

“Prime Minister Modi has once again proved his critics, who call him a Hindu hardliner, wrong by his unconventional style and by leading India’s foreign policy from the front”, said K.G. Suresh, a senior fellow at the New Delhi-based Vivekananda International Foundation, which was founded by Ajit Doval, India’s national security adviser. “The destructions sustained by Bosra represent a further escalation in the horror of war and must be stopped at once to allow the concerned parties to consolidate the agreement reached on the ground to preserve the irreplaceable heritage of Bosra”, UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova said of the site containing Roman, Byzantine and Muslim ruins, including a magnificent 2nd century Roman theatre.

Sources said this “grand visit” by Modi to Lahore is being seen as warming-up exercise before formal summit-level talks take place with Sharif on the sidelines of the 19th SAARC Summit.

In all, it was a whirlwind of a Christmas for Modi-and the Indian subcontinent.

Modi landed in Kabul after his visit to Russian Federation. Not only was Friday Mr. Sharif’s birthday, but his family was also celebrating a wedding. State-run Pakistani TV showed Modi being received by Sharif.

“Tomorrow is Dawood Ibrahim’s birthday… if the prime minister can succeed in bringing him back to India, then we shall welcome and support his meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister today”, Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP and spokesperson Sanjay Raut said in Mumbai. The signal is clear, India wants Afghanistan to be a cooperative sum game with Pakistan.

The unplanned visit is a sign of improving relations between the neighbours.