Man killed, buried under temple’s ‘havan kund’ in Punjab’s Sangrur, 2 held
New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif exchanged greetings in Kazakhstan capital Astana today.
The two leaders, who travelled to Astana to attend the two-day Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meet that opened today, met in the leaders’ lounge at the Astana Opera in the evening before the SCO concert.
According to sources, they exchanged greetings. Since it was the first time they were meeting after Sharif’s operation, PM Modi enquired about his health, mother and family.
The meeting can be described as a quick pull-aside between the two leaders. But both sides reiterated that neither has sought a meeting with the other side.
The interaction between the two leaders is significant given the backdrop of deteriorating relations between India and Pakistan. While both sides denied any formal meeting was scheduled in Astana, the possibility of the two leaders exchanging greetings and an informal talk was speculated.
The exchange today could be an indication that the two leaders are willing to finally take the plunge to having some sort of dialogue to lower the bilateral tensions. From the Uri attacks to the Kulbhushan Jadhav case, both India and Pakistan have been involved in a war of words. Today’s exchange of greetings is the first positive development after more than a year.
India to be full SCO member
India, along with Pakistan, will be formally inducted as full members at the summit tomorrow which will also see the presence of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif.
For India, being inducted into the SCO will help it integrate more closely with the central Asian countries.
India, along with Pakistan and Iran, joined the SCO as Observers at the 2005 Astana Summit. While Russia pushed for India’s full membership, China took a similar stand for its ally Pakistan.
PM Modi will address the SCO Summit tomorrow and is likely to have bilateral talks with Xi on the sidelines of the summit. India skipped the recently “One Belt, One Road” Summit in Beijing citing sovereignty concerns. Simran Sodhi
Delhi-Astana flight
India and Kazakhstan on Thursday decided to boost cooperation in a range of areas, including trade. During the talks between PM Narendra Modi and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, it was also decided to start a direct New Delhi-Astana flight.
