Indian steel magnate Sajjan Jindal violated his visa specifications when he met Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday at Murree, a hill station near Islamabad, to avoid media scrutiny.

Jindal’s visa, bearing number 769903, issued on 25 April, allowed him to visit only Islamabad and Lahore, media reports in Pakistan said.

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The visa regime between India and Pakistan allows citizens from either country to only visit areas specified on the visa. In fact, diplomats from the two countries also have to adhere to the visa specifications which, many complain, restrict their free movement in discharging their official duties.

The Pakistani media suggested that the meeting between Sharif and Jindal, a close friend of the Pakistani Premier, was part of back-channel diplomacy to arrange talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sharif on the margins of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Kazakhstan in June.

The timing of the meeting, coming as it did when India and Pakistan are engaged in a war of words over the death sentence awarded to Kulbhushan Jadhav by a Pakistan military court, has surprised diplomatic and strategic observers in both countries. India officials, however, declined to say anything.  

Sharif’s daughter Maryam, while confirming the meeting which took place at her father's private residence in Murree, sought to play it down. ‘’Jindal is an old friend of the Prime Minister. Nothing secret about the meeting and should not be blown out of proportion. Thank you,’’ she tweeted.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) of cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan moved a resolution in the Punjab Assembly, expressing concern over the meeting between Sharif and Jindal. Other Opposition parties were largely angry over the government’s decision to keep Jindal’s visit as well as his meeting with Sharif a secret. Former Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri described the controversy over Jindal’s meeting as unfortunate.