Modi, who announced the trip via Twitter while in Kabul, met in Lahore with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif, who was celebrating his birthday and the wedding of a grand-daughter, for a two-and-a-half hour visit seen by analysts as a positive step.

A meeting of their top diplomats is now set for January in Islamabad, indicating a potential thaw in ties between two countries that have fought three wars, along with countless close calls, since gaining independence from Britain in 1947.

Television footage showed an Indian Air Force jumbo jet land at Lahore's Allama Iqbal International Airport in the late afternoon on Friday, moments after Sharif himself arrived by helicopter.

The Pakistani premier, flanked by his cabinet ministers, received Modi on the tarmac where military officers lined up along a red carpet.

Both leaders wore their national dress and made their way to Sharif's helicopter, which flew them to the Pakistani leader's palatial residence south of the city.