Indian steel magnate Sajjan Jindal-announced meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif during a visit to Islamabad, triggered speculations in Pakistani media over the revival of bilateral talks amid strains in ties.
The meeting between Sharif and a three-member Indian delegation, including Jindal, took place on Thursday at the premier's private residence in the country's hill station Murree, about 45 kms from Islamabad.
The other two members of the delegation were identified as Suket Singhal and Virander Babar Singh, “but details relating to their ranks and affiliation could not be established”, The New Indian Express reported.
After opposition parties created an uproar over the "secret" meeting, Sharif's daughter Maryam Nawaz Sharif said there was nothing secret about the meeting.
The family members of Sharif received Jindal at the Islamabad airport after he came from Afghanistan. Jindal was later escorted to Murree as part of an official protocol, where he had an hour-long meeting with the prime minister.
Pakistan media speculated that Jindal carried a secret message from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Opposition Party’s Resolution
Imran Khan's Pakistan Tahreek-i-Insaf (PTI) alleged that "Sharif had a secret meeting, in which Jindal conveyed the message of India's Prime Minister Narendera Modi to Sharif over the issue of Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav, who has been awarded death sentence by a Pakistani military court".
Meanwhile, a resolution was submitted in Pakistan's Punjab Assembly against the "secret" meeting of Sharif and Jindal.
Punjab Assembly Opposition leader Mian Mahmoodur Rashid submitted the resolution in the assembly, saying Sharif held a “secret” meeting with a three-member Indian delegation led by businessman Jindal in Murree.
"Jindal brought the message of Modi (which seems to be about Kulbhushan Jadhav). The people of Pakistan should be told as to why the premier kept his meeting with Jindal secret.
What was the purpose of this meeting at a time when India is bent upon isolating Pakistan in the world," the resolution said. PTI spokesman Fawad Chaudhry said: "Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will have to tell the people why he felt the need to hold a secret meeting with an Indian businessman".
The Modi-Jindal-Nawaz History
Jindal’s relationship with Sharif isn’t a secret. Jindal has been reported to be the man behind arranging a meeting between Modi and Sharif in Lahore on 25 December 2015 on the occasion of Sharif's birthday and the marriage his grand daughter Mehr-un-Nisa.
Senior journalist Barkha Dutt in her 2015 book, This Unquiet Land, was the first to write about Jindal as “the unexpected conduit (between PMs Sharif and Modi) with movie-star looks”.
There are strains in ties between India and Pakistan over cross-border terror attacks in India and the death sentence of Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav by a military court on spying charges.
India has denied Pakistan's contention and maintained that Jadhav was kidnapped by Pakistan's agencies.
(With inputs from PTI.)
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