PM Modi exchanges pleasantries with Nawaz Sharif in Astana: Reports

File image: Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets Nawaz Sahrif at SCO summit/ Image for representational purpose

New Delhi: Amid the risings tensions between India and Pakistan over border dispute, and repeated ceasefire violations; Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on the sidelines of SCO summit in Astana; as per Pakistan media reports. The reports have been laid by Pakistan media. As per TOI official sources, ‘the leaders exchanged pleasantries at leaders’ lounge at a reception at Astana opera organised to welcome the leaders who are participating in Shanghai. Modi arrived in the Kazakh capital on Thursday for a two-day visit to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit where India and Pakistan will be inducted as full members of the bloc. If reports are to be believed, there was no official meeting proposal from either of the sides; as a number of issues like cross border terrorism, ceasefire violations and death sentence to former Indian Naval officer Kulbhushan Jadhav have been dominating the relations between the two countries. As per media reports, since this was the first occasion where both the leaders came across each other after Sharif’s heart surgery, therefore Prime Minister Modi enquired about Sharif’s health. As per reports, India abstained from the summit to highlight its concerns over the USD 50 billion CPEC which is part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and passes through Gilgit and Baltistan in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).