New Delhi - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on the sidelines of a summit in Russia this week.
Sources have confirmed to NDTV that the two leaders will meet in the Russian city of Ufa, on the sidelines of a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. The meeting is set to take place on 10th of July.
Sources say PM Modi's phone call to Mr Sharif at the start of the holy month of Ramazan set the tone and broke the ice. However, sources say this is no way indicates the resumption of dialogue just yet.
Indian officials are being tight-lipped on the details and structure of the meeting. But sources say PM Modi is expected to raise India's concerns on terrorism, including the release of Zaki-ur-Rahman Lakhvi.
Modi and Sharif last met at the SAARC summit in Kathmandu last November, though they did not hold formal talks.
According to CNN-IBN, the Indian PMO (Prime Minister’s Office) is expected to make an official announcement on this very soon.
Modi will leave for Russia and five other Central Asian countries on Monday (today). With focus on enhancing strategic, economic and energy ties, Modi is scheduled to travel from July 6 to 13 to five Central Asian countries and Russia where he will attend the summits of BRICS and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
This comes after PM Modi on June 16 called Sharif to discuss Indo-Pak ties. In the five-minute call, Modi told Sharif that he wanted good relations with Pakistan, sources in the PMO had said.
The call was made after a war of words over Myanmar operations. Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore had said that military action in Myanmar to hit back at rebels who killed 18 soldiers in Manipur was a message to other countries.
Pakistan had warned India against undertaking such a strike on its territory. "India should not mistake Pakistan for Myanmar and our army is fully capable of responding to any adventurism," Pakistan Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had said.