Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar Meets Prime Minister of Bhutan Tshering Tobgay on his first SAARC Yatra stop
Pakistan today asserted that it will continue meeting Kashmir's separatists. The statement has come at a time when India's Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar is expected to reach Islamabad on a two-day visit starting tomorrow.
"The practice of Pakistani High Commissioner and Pakistani leadership meeting with Kashmiris has been going on for a long time now. We have been meeting Kashmiri leaders and will continue meeting them as and when we consider necessary," said Tasnim Aslam Khan, Pakistan's Foreign Office Spokesperson.
Foreign Secretary Jaishankar, who started his "SAARC yatra" on Sunday with Bhutan and visited Bangladesh today before he flies out of Dhaka to Islamabad tomorrow, will hold talks with his counterpart Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhary and later call on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Taking a cautious approach towards the outcome of the meeting, which comes seven months after India cancelled foreign secretary-level talks, Indian officials have maintained that tomorrow's interaction would be primarily to explore how to take forward the "process of normalisation" between the two countries.
India had cancelled foreign secretary-level talks because the Pakistan High Commissioner in New Delhi held consultations with Kashmiri separatists in August last year. However, earlier this month, using cricket diplomacy Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Mr Sharif and also told him about Jaishankar's "SAARC yatra".
Pakistan's foreign office has said it is is hopeful that Mr Jaishankar's visit will help in "resuming structured dialogue" between the two countries.