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India PM Narendra Modi meets Pakistan's Nawaz Sharif | India PM Narendra Modi meets Pakistan's Nawaz Sharif |
(about 1 hour later) | |
India's new Prime Minister Narendra Modi has held talks with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on his first day in office. | |
The men shook hands and smiled before a meeting lasting just under an hour. | |
Mr Sharif attended Mr Modi's swearing-in on Monday, amid hopes of a thaw in relations between the rivals who have fought three wars since independence. | Mr Sharif attended Mr Modi's swearing-in on Monday, amid hopes of a thaw in relations between the rivals who have fought three wars since independence. |
Correspondents expected the two men to discuss trade but said security issues were also likely to be on the agenda. | |
Mr Modi led his party to a landslide in recent elections, winning the biggest victory by any party in India for 30 years. | |
'World peace' | 'World peace' |
India and Pakistan, the nuclear-armed rivals, have a deep history of mistrust and the BJP advocates a tough stance on Pakistan. | |
Mr Modi himself is viewed with suspicion by many in Pakistan because of the deadly 2002 anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat while he was the state's chief minister. | |
But in a surprise move, Mr Modi last week invited Mr Sharif to his inauguration and for bilateral talks. | But in a surprise move, Mr Modi last week invited Mr Sharif to his inauguration and for bilateral talks. |
Mr Sharif has described it as "a great moment and a great opportunity" and said "this could help in turning a new page in our relations". | |
No details have been given about what the two men were to discuss, but correspondents said Mr Modi could raise Delhi's longstanding demand that Pakistan control militant groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba which operate on its soil. | |
The group, which India blames for the deadly 2008 Mumbai attacks, is now accused of being behind last week's attack on an Indian diplomatic mission in Afghanistan's Herat province. | |
"According to the information... given to us by a Western intelligence agency, the perpetrators were of Lashkar-e-Taiba," Afghan President Hamid Karzai told an Indian television channel on Monday. | |
Mr Karzai was the first foreign leader Mr Modi met on Tuesday morning. He also held bilateral talks with the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Nepal PM Sushil Koirala and leaders of Maldives, Bhutan, Mauritius and Bangladesh. | |
Mr Sharif's presence at Monday's historic swearing-in was the first time since India and Pakistan won freedom from Britain in 1947 that a prime minister from one state had attended such a ceremony in the other. | |
Forty-five MPs, including seven women, from Mr Modi's BJP party and their allies were also sworn in as ministers. | Forty-five MPs, including seven women, from Mr Modi's BJP party and their allies were also sworn in as ministers. |
India's new ministers |