Narendra Modi and Nawaz Sharif had met in May after the Prime Minister's swearing-in. (File Photo)
India has not officially ruled out a formal meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistan counterpart Nawaz Sharif in Kathmandu on the sidelines of the SAARC summit this week.
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin today said Pakistan has not requested for a meeting, but the two leaders will be in the same room for two days. Sources said they are bound to speak even if it is not a structured dialogue.
The Prime Minister will be in Nepal on November 26 and 27. His meetings are still being drawn up, but he wants a "meaningful dialogue with those he does meet and that all aspects of a relationship will be taken into account," Mr Akbaruddin said.
The India-Pakistan relations have taken a downturn since August, when Pakistan envoy Abdul Basit had organised meetings with Kashmiri separatist leaders. Since then, a series of incidents - the repeated ceasefire violations in Jammu and Kashmir, PM Sharif's outburst at the UN General Council in US, his request to UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon to intervene in the Kashmir issue and the same request to US President Barack Obama last week - has considerably vitiated the atmosphere. (Read:
Sharif asks Obama to Raise Kashmir Issue)
Pakistan claims the cancellation of foreign secretary level talks by India in August and the "unprovoked firing" across the Line of Control indicates India's aversion to normalisation of relations.(
Read more...)
Regarding the request to President Obama, Mr Akbaruddin said India is for "cooperative and peaceful ties" with Pakistan, the framework of which had been agreed to as part of Shimla agreement and Lahore Declaration.
"Our view is that there is a simple two-way street to promote peaceful ties and that is through meaningful, bilateral dialogue. Any deviation from this will not lead us to a common destination," he said.