Kabul, Dec 25 (NDTV): Prime Minister Narendra Modi sprang a massive surprise today as he tweeted that he would "drop by" Lahore on his way back to Delhi and meet Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who turned 66 today. The decision, say sources, was a "spontaneous" one taken this morning.
"Looking forward to meeting PM Nawaz Sharif in Lahore today afternoon, where I will drop by on my way back to Delhi," the prime minister tweeted this afternoon. Mr Sharif will receive Mr Modi at the airport where they will have lunch.
Sources say PM Modi decided to go after his phone-call to Mr Sharif to wish him on his birthday. This will be his first visit to Pakistan since taking office last year and the first visit by an Indian prime minister in 12 years.
Not long before the tweet, PM Modi had, addressing a joint session of the Afghan Parliament, appeared to send a strong message to Pakistan, without naming the country. "There are some who did not want us to be here. There were those who saw sinister design in our presence here... But we are here because you had faith in us," he had said.
The casual announcement of the Prime Minister's Lahore stopover belies the significance of the gesture after a long period of cold vibes between the two nations.
"That's like a statesman. Padosi se aise hi rishte hone chahiyen (ties with neighbours should be like this)," tweeted Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj.
While many see a new, radical approach to ties with Pakistan away from the media glare and political speculation, the opposition criticised the PM.
"The move, if not preposterous, is utterly ridiculous. You can't do such things in such a cavalier manner...this is going to blow up in the PMs face," said former union minister Manish Tewari of the Congress.
The two prime ministers last met in Paris on the sidelines of the Climate Change Summit on November 30. Their handshake and 15-minute chat was the lead-in to talks between the National Security Advisors of the two countries. Those talks were also held secretly in Bangkok on December 6.
Days later, Sushma Swaraj also visited Islamabad for an Afghan conference.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who turned 91 today, was the last Indian Prime Minister to visit Pakistan in 2004. Many in the government have likened PM Modi's Lahore drop in to Mr Vajpayee's bus ride to Lahore in 1999.