Pakistan will invite Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit, the Foreign Office said in Islamabad today.
According to Pakistani newspaper Dawn, Foreign Office spokesman Mohammed Faisal recalled the words of Prime Minister Imran Khan who had in his first address said that if India took one step forward, Pakistan would take two.
The SAARC Summit, which was to be held in Pakistan in November 2016, was cancelled after India boycotted the event, triggering a pullout by Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Bhutan.
New Delhi took the decision following the 18 September 2016 Uri attack by Pak-based terrorists. The Summit was subsequently postponed indefinitely.
Faisal said Imran Khan had expressed Pakistan’s openness to resolve all outstanding issues through dialogue with India.
The spokesperson, however, added, “We fought wars with India, relations cannot be fixed quickly.”
Faisal was speaking at a Kashmir Conference in the Pakistani capital.
The announcement comes amid signals of a thaw in the relationship with Islamabad’s decision to construct the Kartarpur Corridor to facilitate the travel of members of Indian Sikhs to the Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan.
“In this century, diplomacy has completely changed,” Faisal said. “Now policies are made based on citizens’ emotions and wishes.”
The ground breaking ceremony of the corridor, which is expected to be completed in six months, will be done in Lahore on Wednesday, 28 November. Imran Khan will participate in the event, which will also be attended by Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu. Union ministers Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Hardeep Singh Puri will also attend the event in Pakistan.
In India, the ground breaking ceremony was done on Monday.