New Delhi: Pakistan Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry will meet his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar tomorrow in New Delhi when the former arrives here for the Heart of Asia (Istanbul Process) Conference. Secretary-level and other high officials from US, China, Russia, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and some other countries will attend the event.
“Foreign Secretary to lead Pakistan delegation to Heart of Asia meeting in New Delhi. The Senior Officials Meeting of the Heart of Asia – Istanbul Process will be held in New Delhi on 26 April 2016. Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry will lead Pakistan delegation to this meeting,” Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Chaudhry will meet Jaishankar and other top officials on the sidelines of the conference. It is expected that an important exchange of views can take place between the two as the talks between India and Pakistan are in a suspension mode since January 2 Pathankot terror attacks, which was administered from the Pakistani soil.
In March earlier this year, as part of his SAARC Yatra, Jaishankar had travelled to Islamabad. At that time he had held talks with Chaudhry, the first meeting between the two since New Delhi called off talks.
Pakistan is keen on resuming the composite dialogue with India but New Delhi has made it clear that to resume the talks, Islamabad must stop use of its soil to plot terror activities against India.
Last week, Adviser to PM Nawaz Sharif on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz had said the talks had not been cancelled even though these could be called suspended as there had been no engagement between the two sides since the Pathankot attack. Aziz’s remark came after Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India, Abdul Basit created uproar with his remark that possibility about resumption of peace talks between the sides are less.
In August 2015, New Delhi had cancelled the last round of talks in Islamabad out of anger that Pakistan's envoy in New Delhi had hosted Kashmiri separatists in preparation.
