Modi's Pakistan visit has to be taken forward: Yechury

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Pakistan has to be taken forward and moved beyond "VIP diplomacy", CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury said on Saturday.

"The PM's visit to Pakistan has to be taken forward. There is a need to strengthen people to people contact instead of keeping it confined to VIP diplomacy," Yechury said.

On Friday, Modi took everyone by surprise by flying to Lahore to meet his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif while on his way home from Kabul.

"Now Modi is visiting Pakistan... this (the India-Pakistan relation) should have been discussed earlier," Yechury told the media ahead of the five-day party plenum scheduled to begin on Sunday.