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PM Raja Ashraf, India Foreign Minister meet over lunch
JAIPUR: Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf arrived in India on one-day private visit today (Saturday), Geo News reported.He arrived in Jaipur, capital of India’s Rajasthan state, where Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid welcomed him.
Khurshid hosted a lunch for Pakistani premier at a local hotel. According to Indian media reports bilateral relations and issues of mutual interest came under discussion during the lunch.
AFP adds; Pakistan's premier Raja Pervez Ashraf arrived in India Saturday for a pilgrimage to a revered Muslim shrine, with Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid welcoming him with "open arms".
Khurshid and Ashraf smiled and shook hands for television cameras before retreating behind closed doors for their lunch.
Khurshid's warm words for Ashraf -- making his first visit to India as prime minister -- come despite strained relations between the nuclear-armed rivals over recent border clashes.
"It's in our culture to welcome our guests with open arms," said Khurshid ahead of a lunch he will host for Ashraf at the Rambagh Palace, a luxury heritage hotel in the tourist city of Jaipur in northern India.
An Indian foreign ministry official told AFP however there would be no "substantive talks" at the meeting.
"India is happy to host a lunch for the Pakistani prime minister. We are just extending our hospitality," a senior Indian foreign ministry official told AFP.
Ashraf is the most senior Pakistani to visit India since last April when President Asif Ali Zardari made a similar pilgrimage and had lunch with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Ashraf and his family planned a day-long private trip to the 13-century shrine of Sufi saint Hazrat Khwaja Gharib Nawaz in Ajmer, 130 kilometers (80 miles) from Jaipur
Ajmer Sharif security has been beefed up in view of his arrival. The shrine would be vacated before the arrival PM. Indian TV said that heavy contingents of police have been deployed.
Courtesy www.geo.tv