Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf shakes hands with Indian Foreign minister Salman Khurshid at a hotel in Jaipur, March 9, 2013
Raja Pervaiz Ashraf arrived in India on one-day private visit today (Saturday).
Khurshid’s warm words for Ashraf — making his first visit to India as Prime Minister — come despite strained relations between the nuclear-armed rivals over recent border clashes.
“It’s in our culture to welcome our guests with open arms,” said Khurshid ahead of a lunch he will host for Ashraf at the Rambagh Palace, a luxury heritage hotel in the tourist city of Jaipur in northern India.
An Indian foreign ministry official told AFP however there would be no “substantive talks” at the meeting.
“India is happy to host a lunch for the Pakistan Prime Minister.
We are just extending our hospitality,” a senior Indian foreign ministry official told AFP.
Ashraf and his family planned a day-long private trip to the 13-century shrine of Sufi saint Hazrat Khwaja Gharib Nawaz in Ajmer, 130 kilometers (80 miles) from Jaipur.
