New Delhi: Foreign dignitaries including Bhutanese King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuk and former Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Friday attended the last rites of former PM Atal Behari Vajpayee. Pakistani law minister Ali Zafar, Bangladesh foreign minister Abul Hassan Mahmud Ali, Nepalese foreign minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali and Acting foreign minister of Sri Lanka Lakshman Kiriella also visited New Delhi to attend the last rites.
MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted, “When neighbours came together to express the sense of loss on sad demise of a statesman! His Majesty King of Bhutan, former President of Afghanistan and ministers from Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka came to Delhi to pay tributes to former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee.”
Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena also wrote to PM Narendra Modi and expressed his condolences on the demise of Mr Vajpayee. In his condolence message, US secretary of state Michael R. Pompeo said the Indo-US bilateral relationship “continue to benefit from Prime Minister Vajpayee’s vision, which helped promote expanded cooperation”.
