Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan exchanged pleasantries on Friday during the SCO summit in Bishkek, official sources said.
The PM Modi exchangedusual pleasantries with Khan in the Leaders’ Lounge at venue of the ShanghaiCooperation Organisation (SCO) summit here, they said.
Both Modi and Khan were here to attend the annual summit ofthe SCO.
The exchange of pleasantries came over two weeks after Khanand Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi wrote separate letters to theirIndian counterparts, pushing for restarting the bilateral talks.
India has not been engaging with Pakistan since an attack onthe Air Force base at Pathankot in January of 2016 by a Pakistan-based militantgroup, maintaining that talks and violence cannot go together.
Khan had also made a telephone call to PM Modi on 26 May andexpressed his desire to work together for the betterment of people of the twocountries.
On his part, PM Modi said creating trust and an environmentfree of violence and militancy was essential for fostering peace and prosperityin the region.
Following the phone call and letter by Khan to Prime MinisterModi after his re-election for a second term, there were speculations that bothmay have a meeting on the sidelines of the SCO summit here.
The PM Modi arrived here in the Kyrgyz capital on Thursdayon a two-day visit to attend the annual summit of the SCO. He held bilateralmeetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putinand Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.He also held talks with Kyrgyz PresidentSooronbay Jeenbekov on Friday during a bilateral visit during which the twocountries upgraded their relations to strategic partnership level.