PM Modi Interacts, Shakes Hands With Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain on Sidelines of SCO Summit
While the Indian side had pre-scheduled bilateral meetings with the Russian, Chinese and Iranian counterparts ahead of the summit, no such proposal was made to Pakistan.
Qingdao, June 10: Prime Minister Narendra Modi was seen interacting and shaking hands with Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain on Sunday, the second day of ongoing Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit (SCO) in China's Qingdao town.
In the video shared by news agency ANI, the Indian PM is seen greeting the Pakistani President after reciprocating the gesture with Chinese premier Xi Jinping. After the formal greeting, Modi is seen having a word with Mamnoon as the two leaders walk towards Russian president Vladimir Putin. Watch the footage below:
While the Indian side had pre-scheduled bilateral meetings with the Russian, Chinese and Iranian counterparts ahead of the summit, no such proposal was made to Pakistan. "Neither we, nor the Pakistani side has made any request for talks on the sidelines of the summit," said Gautam Bambawale, the Indian ambassador to Beijing.
The SCO summit this year marks the first occasion where India and Pakistan have been included as full-time members of the grouping.
Incidentally, the SCO summit in 2015 had succeeded in breaking the ice between New Delhi and Islamabad as PM Modi and his then Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif held an unscheduled meeting on the sidelines of the event. The meet was followed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's unprecedented visit to Lahore where he attended the wedding of Nawaz Sharif's grand-daughter. The bonhomie, however, remained short-lives as cross-border terror attacks from Pakistan derailed the peace process.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 10, 2018 02:32 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).