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Friday March 29, 2024

Indian Foreign Secretary stresses need to end cross-border violations

ISLAMABAD: Indian Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said on Tuesday that India and Pakistan have agreed to work together to end the cross-border violations as well as bring the Mumbai attack case to a logical conclusion.

Speaking to the media following the meeting between Jaishankar and his Pakistani counterpart Aizaz Chaudhry at the Foreign Office, the Indian Foreign Secretary said that talks

By GEO URDU
March 03, 2015
ISLAMABAD: Indian Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said on Tuesday that India and Pakistan have agreed to work together to end the cross-border violations as well as bring the Mumbai attack case to a logical conclusion.

Speaking to the media following the meeting between Jaishankar and his Pakistani counterpart Aizaz Chaudhry at the Foreign Office, the Indian Foreign Secretary said that talks today were held in a positive manner.

He went on to say that Pakistan will be the next South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) host and that India would like to work with Pakistan to help SAARC achieve its potential.

Earlier today, Jaishankar arrived in Pakistan for a two-day visit and was welcomed in Islamabad by the Indian High Commission as well as senior officials of the Foreign Ministry.

He discussed bilateral relations and regional issues with Chaudhry.
According to the Foreign Ministry, Kashmir, Siachen, and Sir Creek were amongst the issues that were discussed.

Besides holding formal talks with the Pakistani Foreign Secretary, Jaishankar also met with Adviser on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz and Special Assistant to Prime Minister Tariq Fatemi.

He will also be meeting Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif later this evening.

Pakistan and India had last held the formal round of talks on September 8, 2012 which saw the then Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar coming to table with her Indian counterpart S.M. Krishna.

Since then, efforts were made several times to hold the next round of talks but in vain.

The Foreign Secretaries of the both countries had also held a session of talks on September 7, 2012. But the next round of talks which was scheduled to be held in January 2013 could not be held following the incidents of Indian aggression at the Line of Control.

Pakistan and India had agreed to resume the secretary level talks two-months after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif visited New Delhi in May 2014 to participate in the inauguration of his counterpart Narendra Modi on the latter’s invitation.

It was agreed that the dialogue would resume in Islamabad on August 25, 2014. But India cancelled the talks following Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit’s meeting with Kashmiri leaders.

Later, Indian PM Modi using cricket diplomacy telephoned PM Nawaz on February 15, 2015 and indicated India’s willingness to resume the process of Foreign Secretary level talks.