“Ashraf will be on a one-day private visit to India alongwith members of his extended family on March 9. He will land in Jaipur where the Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid with host a lunch in his honour at Hotel Ram Bagh Palace. Thereafter, the Pakistani Prime Minister will proceed to Ajmer to pay homage to the Dargah Shariff of Hazrat Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti. He will return to Jaipur and fly back to Islamabad on the same day.” said the Spokesperson of the Indian External Affairs Ministry, Syed Akbaruddin.

According to Akbaruddin there is no scheduled meeting between the visiting Pakistani Prime Minister and the Indian Prime Minister. Also no diplomatic discussions are scheduled expect private talks.

This is Ashraf’s first visit to India as Prime Minister. An Indian Minister of State will receive him at Jaipur airport and escort him. Ashraf will be accorded due protocol courtesies.

When contacted an official of Pakistani High Commission in India said : “We have not scheduled any such meeting with the Indian Prime Minister. Our Prime Minister is on a private visit. It is up to the host country to arrange such a meeting.”

Tension between India and Pakistan surged in January when a total of six soldiers were killed in exchanges along the Line of Control in Kashmir. Pakistani troops crossed onto the India side and killed two Indian soldiers; one of them was found decapitated.

Though both countries exchanged severe language and warnings, they agreed that the killings should not provoke a larger crisis.