Great expectations for Indo-Pak ties as Narendra Modi, Nawaz Sharif hold bilateral talks

New Delhi: Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Hyderabad House in Delhi after he attended a grand swearing-in ceremony welcoming India's 15th PM. In the 50-minute meeting both leaders discussed key issues, including, Pakistan-sponsored terror and 2008 Mumbai attacks.

In his first bilateral meeting with international leaders after assuming charge, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday held talks with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai.

The meeting with Karzai followed Modi's talks with Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom at the ceremonial Hyderabad House here. In their more than half an hour meeting, Modi and Karzai discussed ways to enhance cooperation in the wake of NATO combat troops withdrawal from the war-torn country.

Modi was assisted in the talks by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh among others. Both Karzai and Gayoom arrived yesterday along with other SAARC heads of government and states to attend Modi's swearing-in ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Prime Minister of Bhutan Tshering Tobgay also met India’s new Prime Minister.

These two meetings will be followed by other bilateral including talks with Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Earlier, on Monday, Sharif and Modi met each other at the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhawan after Modi’s much-anticipated swearing-in ceremony that witnessed the participation of over 4,000 guests.

In an exclusive interview to Deccan Chronicle, the Pakistani leader has said, “I want to reassure India’s new prime minister and the people of India that my government will not support any acts of terror against India. Not by state actors or non-state actors. That will be my promise.”

The Prime Minister, who seems determined to open a new chapter with his Indian counterpart, said that “with the kind of heavy mandate that I have received and now, with Prime Minister Modi’s incredible mandate, we have the backing of both our peoples to move ahead.”

Mr Sharif said that the “moment in history must be grasped, and turned to both our nations’ advantage.” He said that he felt the same sense of excitement as he did when he broke the ice with former prime ministers I K Gujral and Atal Behari Vajpayee, and then qualified that by saying that he expected Tuesday’s meet to go even further, and lead to a resumption of a substantive dialogue between the two countries that would bring peace to the region.

‘Our focus must be to give our people a better tomorrow,” Mr Sharif said.