India's PM to make surprise stopover in Lahore Friday, meet Pakistani counterpart

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he would pay his first visit to Pakistan on Friday, where he would meet with his counterpart Nawaz Sharif on the way back from Kabul.

"Looking forward to meeting PM Nawaz Sharif in Lahore today afternoon, where I will drop by on my way back to Delhi," Modi wrote on his Twitter account.

​Modi will be the first Indian prime minister to visit Pakistan in 12 years after Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2004.

The sudden announcement of the meeting with Sharif is consistent with Modi's recent out-of-the-box diplomacy with Pakistan away from the media glare.

The relations between India and Pakistan have witnessed some positive developments after chill for several months. The two countries recently decided to launch a comprehensive dialogue after Modi and Sharif met in Paris.

Last month, amid furious speculation, Modi and Sharif shook hands and held a two-minute meeting on the sidelines of the Paris climate summit. Shortly after that meeting, the country's Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj visited Islamabad for a multilateral conference.

Source: MENA