30 June,2010 02:48 PM IST | | Agencies
Indian leaders and officials who were in the Pakistani capital to participate in a series of bilateral meetings and a SAARC conference were pleasantly surprised by a parting gift from Interior Minister Rehman Malik cartons of succulent mangoes.
Malik's largesse also extended to the Indian media delegation that covered the Foreign Secretary-level talks on June 24 and the SAARC Interior Ministers' meeting on June 26, diplomatic sources said. The cartons of mangoes were sent out yesterday by Malik's offices to over 50 Indian leaders, officials, diplomats and journalists, including Home Minister P Chidambaram and Home Secretary GK Pillai.
On learning that several officials and journalists had already left Pakistan, Malik's office made a request that the mangoes be delivered to them in India. Officials at the Indian High Commission despatched the mangoes to authorities at the Wagah land border, from where arrangements were made to send them to Delhi.
Mango diplomacy between India and Pakistan is not a new phenomenon. Following their meeting at a SAARC summit in Bhutan, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sent Alphonso mangoes to his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani last month.
In the 1980s, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and military ruler Zia-ul-Haq had exchanged gifts of mangoes and former President Pervez Musharraf had sent mangoes to former premier Atal Behari Vajpayee in 2001.
