PM Modi meets Pak PM at his residence in Lahore

Earlier in 1999, Mr Vajpayee had taken the New Delhi-Lahore bus to the neighbouring country, but that visit was followed by the Kargil conflict between the two nations.As he disembarked from his IAF aircraft at the Allamba Iqbal Airport, Mr Modi was received by Mr Sharif with a warm hug.

“It was a goodwill gesture on the part of the Indian prime minister”, Pakistan Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry told the media.

“Yes, absolutely. I am here”, Modi replied, according to the official.

“And the PM said to him, “Please come, you are our guest, please come and have tea with me”, he said. The men flew by helicopter to Sharif’s private residence in Raiwind, which was grandly festooned for the wedding.

Senior AAP leader Ashutosh said it was BJP and Modi who were opposing talks with Pakistan under the pretext of terrorism.

Modi was on his way home after a visit to Russian Federation.

After months of a freeze, India and Pakistan resumed high-level contacts with a brief conversation between Sharif and Modi at climate change talks in Paris late last month, part of efforts to restart a peace dialogue plagued by militant attacks and long-standing distrust. “An industrialist, who has a private business with ruling establishment in Pakistan is there already; so how is the PM visit spontaneous?”, Sharma wondered.

This surprise visit may have left SPG men in surprise and so is the host in Pakistan. The Indian prime minister is in the provincial capital after concluding his visit to Kabul – where he met top Afghan leadership – including President Ashraf Ghani and CEO Abdullah Abdullah.

Since independence from Britain in 1947, Pakistan and India have fought three wars, two of them over Kashmir, the Himalayan region that both claim in its entirety.

Modi’s predecessor, Manmohan Singh, did not visit Pakistan during his two terms that ended in 2014.

“It is true that there continue to be issues between the two countries, but the broader message [from Modi’s stopover] is that there is no substitute for a certain minimum engagement”, says Malik.

“They also agreed to take steps to improve the relations between the two countries and work together in this regard”. “This is an unannounced and a surprise visit and such visits should happen more often”, Communist Party of India (CPI) leader D Raja said. The two countries share a highly militarized border that regularly witnesses bloody skirmishes between the two sides. Congress leader Manish Tewari was quick to depict the drop-in as “bizarre”.

Earlier Friday, in his speech to the Afghan parliament, Modi urged closer cooperation between India, Pakistan and other neighbours for Afghanistan’s progress.