PARIS, July 10: France has for the moment remained extremely tight-lipped with regard to the visit of Brajesh Mishra, described by the Quai d’Orsay as the “personal envoy” to France of the Indian prime minister, and limited itself to describing Mr Mishra’s participation in the tenth session of the Franco-Indian strategic dialogue which took place on Monday.

Mr Mishra was also scheduled to meet President Jacques Chirac and foreign ministry and defence and political authorities, but France had already forewarned journalists last week that if anything were to be revealed about Mr Mishra’s presence in France, it would be only after the meetings had taken place.

It is known that Mr Chirac would like to make use of Mr Mishra’s presence in the French capital to tackle the issue of Indo-Pakistan relations, especially with regard to Kashmir.