New Delhi: External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, who was due to speak in the Parliament on Thursday, will make a statement in both houses of Parliament on her Pakistan visit on December 14 on the recent developments in India-Pakistan relations.
Following the adjournment of both Houses on Thursday, Swaraj was unable to make the statement.
Responding to a notice of adjournment motion by Trinamool Congress' Saugata Roy, Parliamentary affairs minister M Venkaiah Naidu said Swaraj would speak and that the government would also be willing for a discussion.
“Several developments have taken place in between. I spoke with the minister (who was in Islamabad on Wednesday) and she will make a statement... we are willing for a discussion,” he said, apparently responding to Roy's notice on the meeting between prime minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in Paris during climate change talks.
Also Read: India-Pak to resume peace talks, full text of Joint Statement
She will also apprise the nation about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's proposed visit to the neighbouring country next year for SAARC summit.
In a major development indicating that ties between India and Pakistan are getting back on track, both sides have now agreed to resume the peace dialogue process through what will now be termed as the 'Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue'.
The comprehensive dialogue will have the eight issues that were part of the earlier composite dialogue and some additional components, said Swaraj.
The information was given out in a joint statement issued by both sides following India's Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj's discussions with Adviser to the Pakistan Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz on the sidelines of the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process in Islamabad on December 8-9.
“Both sides have agreed to start the negotiations afresh,” the Indian Foreign minister said addressing a press conference after the discussions. “Both sides have agreed to talk on all unresolved issues on the table,” Swaraj said, adding that the foreign secretaries of both sides would meet soon to discuss the modalities and schedule of the proposed meetings.
The Foreign Minister also called on Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif during her visit.
Both sides have now agreed to restart the dialogue process, which will now include “peace and security, CBMs, Jammu and Kashmir, Siachen, Sir Creek, Wullar barrage, economic and commercial cooperation, counter terrorism, narcotics control and humanitarian issues, people to people exchanges and religious terrorism,” the joint statement issued by the two sides said.
