NEW DELHI: Pakistan Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif met with his newly elected Indian counterpart Narendra Modi at the Hyderabad House on Tuesday, Geo News reported.
HunzaNews May 27,2014
During the 45-minute meeting, both leaders discussed bilateral relationship and resumption of dialogues along with other matters of national interest.
READ: Nawaz, Modi Discussed Five Points
The officials who accompanied the prime minister included Advisor to the PM on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, Assistant to the PM on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi, and Pakistan High Commissioner in India Abdul Basit.
PM Nawaz will also hold a meeting with Indian President Pranab Mukherjee today.
Earlier today, Nawaz Sharif paid a visit to Jama Masjid in New Delhi where he was received by the Shahi Imam Syed Ahmed Bukhari. He offered prayers at the Masjid and later visited the Red Fort.
Amid heavy security, Nawaz Sharif along with other officials including his son Hussain Nawaz and Pakistan High Commissioner in India toured the mosque built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced his new cabinet today morning, shortly before the landmark talks with his Pakistani counterpart, as he hit the ground running on his first day in office.
The morning after Modi and his slimmed-down team of ministers were sworn in, the right-wing leader was to host Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a bid to ease tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
PM Nawaz Sharif was one of six regional leaders who attended the lavish inauguration on Monday evening for Modi, a former tea boy who has been elected leader of the world´s largest democracy with the strongest mandate for 30 years.
Modi has an image as a hardliner, even within his own Hindu nationalist party, and is regarded with deep suspicion by many in Pakistan after deadly anti-Muslim riots erupted in his western fiefdom a decade ago.
But in a surprise move that disarmed many of his critics, Modi decided last week to invite Nawaz Sharif to his inauguration and then to join him for bilateral talks scheduled for 0640 GMT Tuesday.
“Let us together dream of a strong, developed and inclusive India that actively engages with the global community to strengthen the cause of world peace and development,” Modi said as he was sworn in on Monday.
It was the first time an Indian prime minister had hosted a Pakistani leader for official talks in New Delhi since the rupture in relations that followed the 2008 attacks in Mumbai.
Thenews
