ISLAMABAD: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be invited to Pakistanfor the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) summit,Foreign Office Spokesman Dr Mohammad Faisal said on Tuesday.

Ties with Saarc member states have been tenuous since the 19th summit –which was to be held in Pakistan in 2016 – was cancelled after Indiaboycotted the event, causing Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Bhutan to alsopull out.

While addressing the Kashmir Conference in Islamabad, Dr Faisal recalledthat Prime Minister Imran Khan in his first address had said that if Indiatook one step forward, Pakistan would take two.

He added that the premier, in his response to Modi’s letter, had expressedPakistan’s openness to resolving all outstanding issues through dialoguewith India.

“We fought a war with India, relations cannot be fixed quickly,” Dr Faisalsaid.

The FO spokesman said that the Kartarpur Corridor, which will facilitatethe visa-free travel of members of India’s Sikh community to theirreligious site in Pakistan, will be inaugurated tomorrow and is expected tobe completed within six months.