ISLAMABAD: Foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan will meet here on Tuesday in search of ways for resuming their peace dialogue which was suspended in January 2013.

Indian Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar is reaching here on Tuesday as part of a tour of Saarc countries.

Know more: Kashmir issue also on agenda for talks with India: Sartaj

The primary agenda for the secretaries’ meeting is about promoting regional connectivity and trade even though both sides have an understanding about discussing bilateral matters.

Secretary Jaishankar will also meet Adviser on Foreign Affairs and National Security Sartaj Aziz, besides a likely meeting with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Islamabad is the third stop in Jaishankar’s Saarc trip that began on Sunday. He earlier visited Bhutan and Bangladesh. He will travel to Kabul from here on Wednesday.

The visit takes place almost seven months after Delhi cancelled the last planned secretaries’ dialogue in August on the pretext that Pakistani High Commissioner in Delhi Abdul Basit had consulted Kashmiri leaders.

Both sides will hold, what officials have been describing as “talks for talks” (dialogue on resuming suspended talks).

Resumption of peace negotiations with India to be sought

Dialogue has remained suspended because of continuing ceasefire violations along the Line of Control and Working Boundary, which witnessed worst skirmishes over the past two years since the 2003 truce.

India is believed to have used the cover of what Prime Minister Narendra Modi depicted as “Saarc Yatra” to explore the prospects of resumption of peace talks with Pakistan.

Alhough Indian External Affairs Ministry Spokes­man Syed Akbaruddin had hinted a few days back that Delhi was also ready for talks on Kashmir dispute and Pakistan appeared interested in discussing all issues of concern, it is believed that there would be no substantive discussions on them at Tuesday’s meeting.

Some recent developments, including Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif’s visit to Working Boundary, ceasefire violation after the general’s visit, and newly elected chief minister of Indian-held Kashmir Mufti Saeed’s statement thanking Pakistan for peaceful elections in the valley, have made the Indian side further cautious about its outreach to Pakistan.

Published in Dawn March 3rd , 2015

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