ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has sent a gift of mangoes to Indian leaders for promoting goodwill.

The mangoes were sent last week to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Pranab Mukherjee, former premier Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi.

Mangoes have long been part of diplomacy and have been sent by Pakistani prime ministers to their Indian counterparts every year.

Also read: Sharif sends sari for Modi’s mother

However, the timing of the delivery of the gift this year coincided with shelling by Indian forces of villages across the Line of Control (LoC) and Working Boundary last Thursday.

Three people were killed near the Working Boundary and a teenage girl near the LoC.

Indian High Commissioner T.C.A. Raghavan was summoned to the Foreign Office over the incident and the Pakistan Army lodged a complaint with the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan.

The Indian Border Security Force wished to deliver sweets to the Rangers on the Eid day but they were refused because of the hostilities on the Working Boundary and the Line of Control.

Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2015

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