Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Pakistan for a surprise visit on Christmas Day — a significant sign the icy relationship between the two neighbors is thawing.
He will meet Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who greeted him at an airport in Lahore, during his short layover in the city while en route to New Delhi from Afghanistan. The meeting is expected to last two hours.
It’s the first time an Indian prime minister has visited Pakistan in almost 12 years.
The last Indian prime minister to visit Pakistan was Atal Bihari Vajpayee, when he attended a South Asian summit in 2004 and held talks with then-President Pervez Musharraf.
Modi’s predecessor, Manmohan Singh, did not visit Pakistan during his two terms that ended in 2014.
The visit is a hopeful sign after the off-and-on talks between India and Pakistan, which suffered some setbacks in 2015.
In August, talks were canceled over an agenda conflict, only to have the national security advisers of both countries meet recently for surprise dialogue in Bangkok, Thailand.
This month, Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also visited the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, signaling a further ease in bilateral ties.
Sharif, who attended Modi’s inauguration as prime minister last year, invited his Indian counterpart to Pakistan when they met in Russia in July.
In a joint statement, they expressed Modi’s commitment to attend a South Asian summit next year.
