ISLAMABAD: The interior ministers of Pakistan and India are expected to meet on the sidelines of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) conference scheduled to be held in the federal capital in the first week of August.

If materialised, it will be the first meeting between Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

Media reports say New Delhi has indicated that an Indian delegation will take part in the conference. But Islamabad has not received any formal assurance from the Indian government so far.

The conference will be attended by interior ministers and other delegates from Saarc member states.

A meeting between the interior secretaries of the two countries is also likely during the three-day event.

Many attempts have been made in the past to stabilise fragile relations between Pakistan and India but all such efforts have been thwarted by untoward incidents that always cause a breach between the two countries.

In 2008 the two countries established a joint anti-terrorism mechanism (JATM) to enhance cooperation between their premier investigation agencies to control cross-border terrorism, illegal immigration and influx of fake currency.

They took the decision during two-day talks held between their interior secretaries under the composite dialogue process.

Under the mechanism, a committee comprising additional secretaries of foreign affairs of the two countries was formed.

The committee members, with the consent of their governments, were to exchange relevant information about terrorists.

The formation of the JATM was seen as a major step towards an improvement in relations between the two countries as it has been observed that they usually blame each other when a terrorist attack takes place in their territories.

But the JATM could not be implemented because of instable relations between the two countries.

Recently, Jan 2’s Pathankot attack has again spoiled the efforts for normalising bilateral relations.

During the incident, a heavily armed group of assailants struck the Pathankot Air Force Station, part of the western air command of the Indian Air Force.

Five attackers and six personnel of security forces were killed.

Media reports suggested that the attack was an attempt to derail the fragile peace process aimed at improving bilateral relations as several pieces of evidence were found linking the attackers to Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, June 27th, 2016