Modi phoned Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif while on a visit to neighbouring Afghanistan and asked if he could make a stop in Pakistan on his way home, Pakistani foreign secretary Aizaz Chaudhry told media after Modi departed.
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Barbara Perkins and her husband were hunkered down inside a closet when violent winds peeled the roof off their MS home. Despite being newly homeless, Perkins said the tragedy helped her “stop and realize what Christmas is all about”.
The two leaders last met during the climate change conference in Paris in November, chatting briefly.
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And soon after, he had to “correct his congratulations”, later posting, “Adriana Gutierrez, you are still our Miss Universe! “. This time there was a biracial beauty from Japan, a refugee immigrant from Australia and Indonesian Muslim girl too.
“Nawaz Sahab’s birthday & granddaughter’s marriage made it a double celebration”, he added.
Modi fourth Indian PM to visit Pakistan
In short, he is making efforts to bridge the trust deficit with Pakistan, however hard it may be. More than 68,000 people have been killed in ongoing Kashmir violence, which began in 1989.
Describing Mr Modis 150-minute sojourn yesterday in Lahore as “a diplomatic masterstroke”, Mahboob Mohsin of The Nation felt that the “hawks and naysayers on both sides of the border were trounced when Modi unexpectedly landed in Lahore to wish his counterpart on his 66th birthday”.
Shortly thereafter, Modi was seen off by Sharif at the airport.
Mr John Kirby, spokesman for the US State Department, said the visit was a welcome one. “People have hopes from Modi and he has in a short span of time brought about a paradigm shift in India’s relationship with the outside world”, party secretary Shrikant Sharma said.
The Indian Express reported on the “idea” behind the surprise meeting: “The central idea, they said, was to signal that every meeting – even at the highest level – is not a summit, every meeting doesn’t have to have an “outcome”, and Modi wanted to “demystify” the process”.
“The India-Pakistan story has many hard issues lingering for decades”.
During his two-day visit to Russia, Modi held talks with President Vladimir Putin, covering a wide range of sectors which included defence and nuclear cooperation.
The Pakistani premier, flanked by his cabinet ministers, received Modi on the tarmac where military officers lined up along a red carpet.
Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, who accompanied Modi to Lahore, met his Pakistani counterpart in Bangkok earlier this month.
However Modi faced criticism from the main Indian opposition Congress Party as well. Also, two weeks ago, Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj visited Pakistan to attend a meeting on Afghanistan.
Renowned human rights activist Asma Jehangir said the Indian Prime Minister should play his role in stopping alleged human rights violation in Kashmir as well as reducing visa restrictions between the two countries.
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Saeed, the chief of Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) and mastermind of the 26/eleven Mumbai terror assaults, used insulting and derogatory language towards PM Modi for visiting Pakistan. But his desires have been viewed with suspicion and disapproval by the powerful Pakistani military establishment, which remains focused on the resolution of the longtime dispute over Kashmir and accuses India of fostering separatists in Pakistan’s Baluchistan province. “However, more than grand gestures we need consistency”, Abdullah said.
