ladder
Senior Member
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2013
- Messages
- 7,255
- Likes
- 12,207
India-Pakistan Foreign Ministers to meet on Friday: sources
India-Pakistan Foreign Ministers to meet on Friday: sources | NDTV.comNew Delhi: In signs of keenness to continue the dialogue process despite the recent tension at the border, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid will reportedly meet his Pakistani counterpart Sartaj Aziz on Friday in Kyrgyzstan.
The proposed meeting comes barely two weeks after reports that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to go ahead with a meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in New York later this month.
Sources have told NDTV that India has accepted Pakistan's offer for a meeting between Mr Khurshid and Mr Aziz who is the national security and foreign policy adviser to Mr Sharif.
The reported meeting, to be held on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meet, may lay the groundwork for talks between the prime ministers, which is likely to take place before noon on September 29, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
Government sources had earlier told NDTV that preparations for that meeting are under way, and a room has been booked at a prominent New York hotel for it.
But New Delhi has been cautious so far about the meetings following the death of five Indian soldiers along the Line of Control last month, in an attack linked to the Pakistani army, as well as a series of ceasefire violations along the LoC.
"We are keeping quiet on this and watching. I realise that the time is coming for the New York visit. So, obviously call will be taken by the Prime Minister at an appropriate stage. But we will not hasten it as we do not want to jump the gun," Mr Khurshid had said last month.
The main opposition party, BJP, has urged the Prime Minister to not hold talks with Mr Sharif unless Pakistan demonstrates some commitment to ending attacks in India.
