India-Pak foreign secretaries meet in Delhi today, to talk Pathankot issue
Islamabad/New Delhi: The foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan are expected to meet on Tuesday on the sidelines of the “Senior Officials’ Meeting of the Heart of Asia — Istanbul Process” in New Delhi. Various issues dogging bilateral ties, including the terror strike on the IAF base at Pathankot, are expected to be discussed during the meeting of the two foreign secretaries.
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday gave the go-ahead to foreign secretary Aizaz Chaudhry to meet his Indian counterpart, Mr S. Jaishankar, on the sidelines of the conference, officials in Islamabad said. Earlier, Mr Chaudhry and the Pakistan national security adviser, Lt. Gen. Naseer Khan Janjua (Retd), had called on Prime Minister Sharif to discuss a strategy for the Heart of Asia Conference. “The foreign secretary has been given permission to hold a meeting with his Indian counterpart on the sidelines of the conference. He is most likely to have a bilateral meeting,” said a senior Pakistan government official. “The meeting will also review Pakistan’s policy on Afghanistan,” said another official.
On the sidelines of the meet, Pakistan foreign secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry will hold bilateral talks with his Indian counterpart, Mr S. Jaishankar, to review the status of bilateral ties and the Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue (CBD), which is stagnant. This will be first formal meeting between Mr Jaishankar and Mr Chaudhry after the announcement of the resumption of the CBD by the foreign ministers in Islamabad last December. The two secretaries had an brief informal interaction during a Saarc meeting in Nepal in March this year.
“The focus of the talks would be on the investigation into the Pathankot terror strike and a possible visit by an NIA team to Pakistan in this connection,” sources in New Delhi stated.
The efforts to resume the CBD at the foreign secretary level hit a deadlock after the terrorist attack on the Pathankot airbase in January that India said was carried out by militants from the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terror group.
The meeting comes against the backdrop of Pakistan high commissioner Abdul Basit’s recent comment that the bilateral peace process was suspended, evoking a sharp reaction from India, which maintained that communication channels were on at various levels but also made it clear it wants to see action on terror and Pathankot first before the dialogue could be resumed.
Announcing Mr Chaudhry’s visit, the Pakistan foreign office, in a statement in Islamabad, had said, “Pakistan delegation will also hold bilateral meetings with other leading delegations attending the meeting.”
Pakistan looks forward to active participation in the forthcoming Heart of Asia meeting, reflecting “our commitment to efforts for promoting long-term peace and stability in Afghanistan,” it added. Pakistan had hosted the fifth Heart of Asia Ministerial Conference in Islamabad on December 9, 2015.
