ISLAMABAD: Indian Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar is likely to visit Islamabad on March 3 for talks with Pakistani officials on promoting trade and connectivity in the Saarc region, besides discussing way forward in the stalemated Pak-India bilateral ties.

Both sides have started preparations for the much-anticipated visit.

Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan T.C.A Raghavan travelled to Delhi on Tuesday for consultations on the visit. And Pakistani High Commissioner to Delhi Abdul Basit would soon return in Islamabad to assist the Foreign Office in preparations for the talks.

Agenda of talks includes Kashmir

Though talking points are still being finalised, Indian External Affairs Ministry expressed its readiness on Tuesday to talk also on Kashmir issue.

In a live Q&A session on the Facebook, Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin, while replying to a question, said: “We stand ready to talk with Pakistan in accordance with the Simla Agreement on all issues, including Jammu and Kashmir.”

Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesperson Tasneem Aslam had at the last week’s media briefing said that Pakistan would like to discuss all issues of common interest.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had, during his conversation with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif earlier this month, said that Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar would visit South Asian capitals, including Islamabad.

Jaishankar’s Islamabad visit is likely to be preceded by his visit to Dhaka on March 2.

A source privy to the discussions on the upcoming Islamabad trip said that India was primarily trying to keep the agenda limited to issues pertaining to Saarc, particularly trade and regional connectivity.

However, he said, the two sides would also use the opportunity to discuss the impasse in relations caused by tensions on the Line of Control and Working Boundary and explore ways for moving past it.

Prime Minister Modi has made revitalisation of Saarc through promotion of regional connectivity and trade a cornerstone of his regional policy. But, for this goal to realise, Pakistan and India need to reach some sort of settlement.

The last summit of the regional bloc in Katmandu, where only one agreement pertaining to electricity sharing between the member states could be signed and that too after a handshake between prime ministers of India and Pakistan, underscored the importance of normalisation of ties between Pakistan and India.

The two countries had, during Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s visit to Delhi in May last year for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s inauguration, agreed on a meeting of their foreign secretaries to discuss the way forward in the relationship.

The meeting was later scheduled for August 28, but the Indian side pulled out of the meeting at the last minute on the pretext that Pakistani High Commissioner to India had consulted Kashmiri leadership.

Published in Dawn, February 25th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play