Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar Meets Prime Minister of Bhutan Tshering Tobgay
Indian foreign secretary S Jaishankar is in Pakistan today as part of his "SAARC Yatra" to firm up ties in the neighbourhood. He is expected to hold talks with his Pakistani counterpart Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhary in Islamabad and also call on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Mr Jaishankar's visit comes seven months after India called off foreign secretary talks over Pakistan's engagement with Kashmiri separatists. Last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi telephoned Nawaz Sharif to wish him for the cricket World Cup and discussed the foreign secretary's visit to Pakistan as part of his SAARC outreach.
Pakistan's foreign office spokesperson has told NDTV that they expect the resumption of structured dialogue after Mr Jaishankar's visit.
"We have noted that visit is in the context of SAARC. However, when the Foreign Secretaries meet, bilateral relations would be discussed. We expect this interaction would lead to resumption of the dialogue process," officials said.
But they, also made it clear that Pakistan would not stop talking to separatists.
"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.
India has said the purpose of Mr Jaishankar's visit is mainly to explore how to take forward the "process of normalisation" between the two countries.
Mr Jaishankar started his "SAARC yatra" on Sunday with Bhutan and visited Bangladesh yesterday.
SAARC or the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka as its members.