Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif is hopeful of a meeting between Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in the wake of a meeting of governments of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), which saw Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar represent his country.
The top Indian diplomat was in Islamabad on Tuesday and Wednesday to attend the high-level meeting, with the capital city under tight lockdown. Jaishankar and his counterpart Ishaq Dar had an “informal interaction,” an official in the Pakistani foreign ministry said on Thursday, but New Delhi denied that any meeting had taken place.
Speaking to a delegation of Indian reporters in Lahore, Nawaz Sharif expressed his hope for a future dialogue between the leadership of the two countries on climate change among other futuristic challenges. His daughter, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, was also present on the occasion.
“Nawaz Sharif hoped that there would be an opportunity in the near future for the prime ministers of the two countries to meet and the dialogue between the two neighbours to happen on futuristic challenges, including climate change,” senior Indian journalist Smita Sharma was quoted stating to an English daily following her interview with the PML-N supremo.
“We have lost the last 75 years and it is important we don’t lose the next 75 years,” Sharif was quoted as saying in the Times of India newspaper.
During the interview, Nawaz proposed selling Pakistan’s surplus electricity to India, highlighting the potential benefits of such an agreement. “India needs electricity, and Pakistan has plenty. We should sell this electricity to India at an affordable price,” he said.
