Sharif wishes Vajpayee on birthday, sends bouquet through Pak High Commission

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday sent a bouquet of flowers to former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on the occasion of his 90th birthday.

Mr. Tahir Mehmood, an official of the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi, delivered the bouquet of flowers to the former Indian prime minister at the latter's Krishna Menon Marg residence in the national capital.

Thursday also happens to be Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's birthday as also the 138th birth anniversary of Pakistan's Founding Father Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

It maybe recalled that Sharif and Vajpayee shared rare camaraderie when they were prime ministers of their respective countries in the late 1990s. In February 1999, Vajpayee travelled by bus across the Wagah-Attari border to Lahore to meet with Sharif. He also then visited the Minar-e-Pakistan, and there was hope for a restoration of normalcy in bilateral ties.

However, a couple of months after that visit, the Kargil War was launched with the backing of the Pakistan Army, and relations between the two countries turned sour.

As Prime Minister, Vajpayee also met with Pakistan's President-General Pervez Musharraf in Agra between July 14 and 16, 2001.

In January 2004, Vajpayee attended the 11th SAARC Summit in Islamabad, Pakistan.