ISLAMABAD: National Security Adviser retired Lt Gen Nasser Khan Janjua, who was travelling to Iran for security talks on Sunday, missed his connecting flight in Dubai, a diplomatic source revealed to Dawn.

The adviser, who was scheduled to be in Tehran early on Sunday morning, arrived in the Iranian capital in the evening on another flight forcing rescheduling of his meetings.

Gen Janjua would now open his tour on Monday morning with a meeting with Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani. His meeting with President Hassan Rouhani is also being scheduled.

The focus of Gen Janjua’s visit will be on security.

In a statement, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) suggested that broader irritants in bilateral relations would also come under discussion during the visit.

It is expected that “it [the trip] will be helpful in achieving all the desired objectives,” the statement noted without specifying the objectives.

That the visit is extraordinary is evident from the fact that the PMO said it had been approved by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The prime minister as a routine approves all ministerial overseas visits, but the approvals are normally not announced.

Mr Sharif had earlier this year disallowed a visit by Defence Minister Khwaja Asif to Tehran.

Gen Janjua will return on Wednesday.

Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2016