Modi arrives in Lahore on surprise visit
LAHORE: Indian premier Narendra Modi landed at Lahore's Allama Iqbal International Airport today on a surprise visit, where Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif were present to receive him.
This is the first time an Indian premier has visited Pakistan in more than a decade.
Modi receives flowers from a young girl on his arrival at Lahore airport.─Photo: Indian MEA spokesman's Twitter profile
Television footage showed Modi exit his jet and embrace PM Nawaz, after which the two heads flew in a helicopter to Nawaz Sharif's private residence in Raiwind.
A groundbreaking tweet
The visit itself was announced in a novel way – on Twitter.
Modi said he would stop over in Lahore on his way to New Delhi from Afghanistan.oreign Minister Sushma Swaraj, responding to Modi's announcement, said on Twitter: "That's like a statesman. Such should be the relationship between neighbours."
Congress questions visit
India's major opposition party, Congress, questioned Modi's visit to Pakistan, saying serious information like this should not have been revealed through Twitter,
reported Times of India.
The meeting at Jati Umrah.─ Photo: PM House
"It is unfortunate that we get to know about prime minister's visit through a tweet... India and Pakistan relations are not so good as yet that he stops over there on his way back from another country," Congress spokesperson Ajoy Kumar told IANS.
Congress leader Manish Tewari called it an "adventure" by the Indian prime minister.
Modi 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.
PM Nawaz received his Indian counterpart at Lahore airport.─ Photo: PM House
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'.
Modi's visit in Pictures
Indian PM Modi arrives at Lahore's Allama Iqbal International Airport.─Photo: Indian MEA
The handshake.─ Photo: Indian MEA
The two PMs moving towards the chopper.─ Photo: Indian MEA
Modi arrives at PM's residence where Nawaz Sharif's grand daughter's wedding ceremony was held.─ Photo: Indian MEA.