Pakistan gives green signal to US for facilitating talks process with India

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has given ‘go-ahead’ signal to Washington for facilitating dialogue process with India on bilateral issues since Pakistan believes in peaceful settlement of international disputes. It would be a difficult proposition for right-wing Hindu government under Narendra Modi in New Delhi to have talks with Pakistan as it is approaching the election year but the senior US officials are trying hard to bring the two countries across the table.

A meeting between PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi with his Indian counterpart Modi in London this month couldn’t be ruled out where they will be under one-roof to attend 25th Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting (CHOGM). Highly placed diplomatic sources told The News here Wednesday evening that the US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs in the State Department Ambassador Alice Wells who has just concluded extensive visit of Pakistan in which she also availed opportunity to have meeting with Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa, now dashed to New Delhi. She will be staying in India till Saturday and she has planned to have important meetings in Indian capital including Indian Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj. Ambassador Wells visit to New Delhi is strictly not a 'bilateral event', but Ambassador Wells' discussions with senior Indian government officials are expected to cover 'regional and global issues', according to the US State Department announcement.

Presumably ties between Pakistan and India, Afghanistan will be top of the agenda of her discussion during the visit of South Asian countries. She may also touch Kabul before returning home, the sources hinted.

Ambassador Wells has emerged as the Trump administration's key interlocutor on the Afghan imbroglio. A career diplomat, low-key but very effective in the absence of turf rivalries, she has galvanised the search for a political process in Afghanistan in such a short period of time. She has succeeded in building up a good rapport with the officials of countries of the region who are in a position to make or mar her project.

During her open-ended visit to Pakistan last week, Ambassador Wells had candid discussions with the senior officials of the Foreign Office including Foreign Secretary Ms. Tehmina Janjua who visited Kabul early this week also. She was in Afghan capital for the second time in about a month.