New Delhi, June 5
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today thanked his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif for sending a sari for his mother.

“Nawaz Sharif has sent a wonderful white sari for my mother. I am really grateful to him and will send it to my mother very soon,’’ he tweeted this evening.

When Sharif visited India recently for Modi’s swearing-in ceremony, the Indian PM had gifted him a shawl for his mother. The gift had Sharif’s daughter Maryam gushing in admiration. “Thank you very much PM Narendra Modi for the beautiful shawl for my grandmother. My father personally delivered it to her,’’ she tweeted. Maryam had also attached a photograph of the shawl along with her comment.

The exchange of gifts, particularly mangoes, between the leaders of India and Pakistan has been common. In the 1980s, the late Indira Gandhi had sent ‘Anwar Rataul’ mangoes to the then Pakistan President Zia-ul-Haq. In 2001, the then Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf had sent mangoes to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and LK Advani before visiting India for the Agra summit.

Manmohan Singh had sent ‘Alphonso’ mangoes to his Pakistani counterpart Yousaf Raza Gilani in May 2010.