Setting aside the rivalry that has characterised their relations in recent years, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today hosted a farewell lunch for outgoing President Asif Ali Zardari. Sharif described the event as "historic" as for the first time in the country's 66-year history, an elected premier was bidding farewell to an elected president who is completing his five-year tenure.

"This is an unprecedented golden chapter being added to the annals of our history. It's a new history in the making," said Sharif, the head of the ruling PML-N.