'Sharif, Modi held a secret meeting in Kathmandu last year'

Unknown to the media and certainly the public, both Modi and Sharif had found someone to "keep them connected even when things got difficult", Dutt writes, describing Sajjan Jindal as an informal messenger serving as a "covert bridge" between the two leaders.

Islamabad: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi held an hour-long secret meeting on the sidelines of the Saarc summit in Kathmandu last year, a new book has claimed.
Away from prying eyes and more than just a mere handshake, the two leaders are said to have met secretly in a meeting that was facilitated by Indian steel magnate Sajjan Jindal, the brother of former Congress MP Naveen Jindal, according to The Hindustan Times quoting renowned TV journalist Barkha Dutt in her debut book This Unquiet Land - Stories from India's Fault Lines published on Wednesday.
Unknown to the media and certainly the public, both Modi and Sharif had found someone to "keep them connected even when things got difficult", Dutt writes, describing Sajjan Jindal as an informal messenger serving as a "covert bridge" between the two leaders.
During their first meeting when Sharif visited Delhi for Modi's swearing-in ceremony the two premiers decided to keep the reins of the relationship in their hands. "However, they agreed that it could be useful to talk informally through a mutual acquaintance they both felt comfortable with."
The acquaintance was Jindal, who hosted a tea party for Sharif after his meeting with Modi in New Delhi. When Dutt went to meet Sharif at the Capital's Taj Mansingh hotel, she saw Jindal escort his son Hussain for lunch. "It was no secret that Indian steelmakers, both state and private players, were looking to foster friendly relations with Pakistan; they needed this to happen so they could ferry iron ore from Afghanistan by road across Pakistan from where it could be shipped to ports in western and southern India," Dutt writes.
"But, Jindal's ties with Sharif, she says, appeared to have gone beyond that of a businessman with the head of a government - and the two had become 'confidantes'," the paper adds.
The proximity was at play in Kathmandu, where the Saarc summit was held on November 26 and November 27. Modi called up Jindal from Nepal and asked him to take the earliest flight to the Nepali capital.
"Jindal was asked to discreetly reach out to his 'friend' across the border," the TV journalist writes. The two leaders then met quietly "in the privacy of Jindal's hotel room", where they spent an hour together.
The paper adds that Modi spoke about "circumstances" which did not permit him to reopen formal channels. While the Pakistani premier spoke about "constrictions" imposed on him by the security establishment and how his "negotiating power with the army had been gradually whittled away".
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