MUMBAI: Two tweets sent the national chatterati into a frenzy on Christmas Day.The first was from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who decided to take a surprise detour on his return home from Russia and Afghanistan to Lahore and wish his counterpart Nawaz Sharif on his birthday.Then, an hour later, steel and power conglomerate JSW Group’s boss Sajjan Jindal too took to the micro-blogging site to announce, "In Lahore to greet PM Navaz (sic) Sharif on his birthday".Jindal’s was a seemingly innocuous tweet, but it appeared to betray a deeper secret. It came days after journalist Barkha Dutt’s revelation in her new book that the billionaire business tycoon had last year facilitated a secret and deniable, hourlong meeting between both leaders in his hotel room in Kathmandu on the sidelines of the SAARC summit. Before that, ET had reported in June last year how Sharif had dropped in at Jindal’s home for tea when he visited Delhi for Modi’s swearing-in ceremony.Is Sajjan Jindal the new RK Mishra — a one-time corporate confidant of prime ministers of India and Pakistan who was used for back-channel negotiations in an otherwise fractious and convoluted relationship?Mishra, a veteran journalist with the Patriot and Link newspapers and the founding chairman of Reliance’s Observer Research Foundation, was considered close to the group’s late founder Dhirubhai Ambani. Mishra was believed to have been used by the Vajpayee establishment during the height of Kargil war for track-II talks with Islamabad.So more than a decade later, is Sajjan Jindal the new ‘facilitator’ for Indo-Pak dialogue?While he could not be reached for comment despite multiple attempts to contact him on his cellphone, he seemed to have come in the crosshairs of political sniping. Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma, reacting to Modi’s surprise stopover, said the prime minister had used the services of a "vested private business interest" to fix the meeting in Lahore.But independent experts said using businessmen as go-between was nothing new."Being a man with significant business interests himself, Nawaz Sharif has great rapport with several businessmen. But this is not the first time businessmen have been used by political leaders as conduits to convey messages to their counterparts. Indira Gandhi did so. So did Narasimha Rao and even (Atal Bihari) Vajpayee," said Sanjaya Baru, director for geo-economics and strategy at the International Institute of Strategic Studies. Baru was formerly a media adviser to prime minister Manmohan Singh."Internationally, too, there have been several precedents. Between the US and Russia, even at the height of their frosty relationship, business leaders played a key role. Similarly, Mao Tse-tung (Zedong) maintained relationship with US businessmen even before diplomatic relationships between two countries were established."To be sure, both Jindals and Sharif family have been personal friends for generations with similar business interests in steel.Nawaz Sharif ’s father Muhammad Sharif started his business empire in 1939 with a small steel mill — Ittefaq Ltd, which over the years has transformed itself into one of the largest steelmaking units there. Sugar is the other big Sharif family business comprising more than 24 factories that are currently managed by Nawaz Sharif ’s nephew Hamza and son. Incidentally, both were present to greet Modi on Friday at the Sharif residence on the outskirts of Lahore."They have been personal friends for at least two generations. It got cemented further in the past decade. Both families and even their kids know each other well and both have bases in London where they have met several times," said a friend of the Jindal family who did not want to be quoted.Last May, Jindal hosted Sharif in his Delhi house for tea when the Pakistani PM was in India for the Modi swearing-in, an event that attracted him a lot of criticism from political rivals back home, most notably from Imran Khan, the former cricketer and chairman of the Tehreeke-Insaf party who castigated Sharif for having time to spare for the Indian business tycoon but not for the All Party Hurriyat Conference, which had also sought time with him.Personal rapport apart, industry observers say strategic business interests too could be influencing a desire to play midwife to the incipient bonhomie.A grouping of Indian steelmakers, called Afghan Iron & Steel Consortium (Afisco) that is led by state-run SAIL along with JSW, JSPL and Monnet Ispat, has been negotiating with the Pakistani government for right of way to transport iron ore by road from Hajigak iron ore deposits in Afghanistan’s Bamiyan province to Karachi, before it is shipped to ports in western and southern India. This is a much cheaper alternative than using Russia as a transit point and is the key to the commercial viability of these mining concessions. Using Iran could be an alternative, but steel industry officials say the Pakistan route is most economical from a cost perspective. Unless this issue is resolved, the memorandum of understanding signed between both sides will not move forward.As per the agreement with the Afghan government, Afisco has to build a 2-mt steel plant in Afghanistan to be allowed the right to export iron ore from Hajigak mountains. The ferrous content of the ore is said to be in the high sixties, which is considered to be high quality.The Indian consortium was selected as preferred bidder for three of the four iron ore blocks in Hajigak mines that hold about 1.8 billion tonne iron ore.Sajjan’s younger brother Naveen Jindal runs Jindal Steel & Power (JSPL), which holds a 16 per cent stake in the Afisco consortium, identical to JSW Ispat. Their brother-in-law Sandeep Jajodia controls Monnet Ispat & Energy, which holds a 4 per cent stake in Afisco.