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Thursday March 28, 2024

Indian foreign secretary’s visit an ice breaker: FO

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan says that Tuesday’s talks between the visiting Indian Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and his Pakistani counterpart Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry “were not a failure” and in fact they were “an ice breaker”, especially since the last time a foreign secretary level meeting was held in 2012.“I would not like

By our correspondents
March 06, 2015
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan says that Tuesday’s talks between the visiting Indian Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and his Pakistani counterpart Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry “were not a failure” and in fact they were “an ice breaker”, especially since the last time a foreign secretary level meeting was held in 2012.
“I would not like to characterise it as failure. India had characterised it as a visit in the context of Saarc. We said that it is a visit that is taking place in lieu of the August visit as an ice breaker. It is a process,” spokesperson at the Foreign Office commented while replying to a query at the weekly media briefing.
Thursday also saw the foreign secretary briefing the ambassadors of P-5 countries (US, UK, France, China, Russia), and the EU Mission in Islamabad, on the visit of the Indian foreign secretary to Islamabad.
“The foreign secretary described the visit as a step in the right direction, while giving a detailed briefing on the talks held, which covered bilateral and regional issues of mutual concern and interest,” said the spokesperson.
He also stressed the importance of maintaining sustained and structured dialogue to carry forward the relationship.When asked about Indian allegations about Pakistan being involved in terrorism, the spokesperson responded, “As regards blaming Pakistan, I do not want to go into details of such incidents.
It is not a good approach to blame every terrorist attack on others. We expect that first investigations should be conducted. Only then we can talk about it.” She added that this is a problem which affects the entire region.
To a query on the continuing presence of US troops in Afghanistan, the spokesperson said even though Pakistan suggests a responsible drawdown, “It is essentially for the Afghan government to decide how long they require foreign troops and what kind of assistance from other partners they expect.”
The spokesperson said she could at this moment not confirm the arrest of Abdul Salam Sattar Regi, an Iranian national, on February 28 in Balochistan.“So far, there is no confirmation of this news. We are in contact with concerned federal and provincial authorities to check the veracity of media report regarding his arrest. We have just received a request from Iranian Consulate in Quetta for consular access to Regi and not for his extradition,” she added.