2 min readRamallahFeb 11, 2018 06:46 AM IST
First published on: Feb 11, 2018 at 02:38 AM IST
PM Modi is on three nation tour of West Asia and will reach Oman on Sunday. (Twitter/Narendra Modi)
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets Oman’s Sultan Qaboos bin Said on Sunday evening, he will be meeting a man who was, as a student, taught by Shankar Dayal Sharma, who went on to become the President of India. Sultan Qaboos’s father, an alumnus of Ajmer’s Mayo College, sent his son to study in Pune for some time, where he was former President Shankar Dayal Sharma’s student. He completed a part of his early education from a private institution in Pune.
“He has very fond memories from his student days…and that is the reason he has been very generous towards the Indian community and India’s requests for help. That is expected to be acknowledged during the visit,” an Indian diplomat told The Indian Express from Muscat.
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Modi is expected to tap into the “personal connect” of Oman’s Sultan. The PM is also scheduled to visit a 250-year-old Shiva temple in Muscat. He will meet Sultan Qaboos at Bait Al Barakah Royal Palace for a special dinner where the two leaders will review bilateral cooperation. They are expected to identify new areas of cooperation and exchange views on the regional situation in South Asia and West Asia regions, including the Gulf, along with global issues of mutual interest.
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Sultan Qaboos had also played a role in the release of Father Tom Uzhunnalil, the Vatican priest who was abducted in Yemen in March 2016 and released in September 2017. Sultan Qaboos was reportedly in constant touch with parties from Yemen as well as the Ministry of External Affairs during the negotiations. The Sultan has in the past intervened to get other hostages released.
A major highlight of Modi’s visit will be an address at an Indian community programme at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Oman.
PM Modi is on three nation tour of West Asia and will reach Oman on Sunday. (Twitter/Narendra Modi)
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