NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will decide if Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will attend a Saarc ministerial meeting in Islamabad this month, reports said on Tuesday, and India’s defence minister may have signalled the mood by describing Pakistan as a veritable “hell” to go to.

The finance ministers of member states of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation are to meet on Aug 25 and 26 in Pakistan, which, according to reports, said in a recent statement that it would play “a good host”.

“That assurance was made days after Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh spent a tense 24 hours in Islamabad,” the NDTV said. Indian reports say Mr Singh was snubbed by Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and during the visit, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif publicly spoke of “the freedom movement” in Kashmir in remarks New Delhi believes were designed to provoke India.

On Monday, Mr Modi’s Independence Day speech delivered an aggressive change of tone in his policy on Pakistan, the NDTV said.

Hostility across the border ratcheted up after the July 8 killing by India’s security forces of Kashmiri militant Burhan Wani who was eulogised by Pakistan and Mr Sharif as a martyr.

His death has plunged the Kashmir Valley into its worst unrest in over six years, while India has accused Pakistan of instigating the violence.

Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar added a new invective by describing Pakistan as “hell”, reports said.

“Our soldiers sent back five terrorists yesterday. Going to Pakistan is same as going to hell,” the minister was quoted as saying.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2016