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Ashraf will fly from Islamabad to Jaipur on Saturday morning. External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid will be hosting a lunch for the prime minister at Jaipur’s Rambagh Palace. After this, Ashraf is expected to visit the shrine in Ajmer. He will then return to Jaipur and leave for Islamabad in the evening.
Ashraf ‘s visit assumes significance, as both India and Pakistan are not on favourable terms since the killing of Indian soldiers Hemraj and Sudhakar Singh near the Line of Control in J&K.
“The ministry of external affairs will be facilitating this one-day private visit by the Prime Minister of Pakistan,” the MEA’s official spokesperson, Syed Akbaruddin said today.
Senior MEA officials told Business Standard the issue of repeated cease-fire violations by Pakistan on the LoC might be taken up during the visit. Officials also said that other issues such as India’s strategy in Afghanistan post the pulling out of troops by NATO might also feature during the luncheon, besides discussions on trade normalisation, which is seen as one of the major issues in the thawing of talks between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
