Indian Prime Minister Modi to make brief visit to Pakistan to meet Pakistani counterpart

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan's foreign ministry spokesman says Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will arrive in the eastern city of Lahore later in the day to meet with Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif.

Qazi Khalilullah gave no further details of the visit expected on Friday afternoon.

Modi, who was in Russia on Thursday, tweeted that he is "looking forward to meeting" Sharif in Lahore, "where I will drop by on my way back to Delhi." He says he also called Sharif and wished him happy birthday.

The visit comes more than two weeks after Modi and Sharif had an unscheduled meeting at the Paris climate change talks.

Since independence from Britain in 1947, Pakistan and India have fought three wars, two of them over Kashmir, the Himalayan region that both claim in its entirety.