Dec 9, 2015- Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj is in Islamabad to attend a security conference on Afghanistan and to hold rare talks with Pakistani officials.
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India has blamed the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai, which claimed 166 lives, on groups based in Pakistan and has been demanding action against them, among other things.
Neither side, however, mentioned whether a proposed cricket series in December and January would go ahead – an omission that Pakistan’s cricket chief said meant the plan was much less likely to happen.
Salahuddin Rabbani, for his part, thanked Iran for its participation in the Heart of Asia conference as well as its support for Afghanistan’s National Unity Government, presenting the Iranian top diplomat with a report on the process of peace talks in his country.
Accordingly, Dr Jaishankar had visited Islamabad on March 3, when he met his Pakistani counterpart and raised India’s known concerns on cross-border terrorism.
Afghanistan is also a source of tension between Pakistan and India, with the former accusing the latter of meddling in what it sees as its backyard.
In fact, this is the very crux of the Heart of Asia 5th ministerial conference on Afghanistan that Islamabad is hosting. The effort was to unblock ties and move forward, the sources said. “But today, let us at least resolve to help Afghanistan – in the best traditions of good neighbourliness – through more effective transit arrangements”, she said.
He said Afghanistan would welcome “all those opposition elements who renounce violence, who accept Afghanistan’s constitution and who disarm and join the government-led peace and reconciliation process”.
In the context of Afghanistan, she said nothing could benefit the war-ravaged nation more immediately than full and overland access to India’s markets to enable it to take advantage of the zero duty regime available to its exports in India.
Ghani and Swaraj will also hold bilateral talks with Sharif.
“But specifically between India and Pakistan”, Kirby said, “we continue to believe that these are issues which, frankly, should encourage both sides to continue to want to work closer and stronger together bilaterally to solve it, because it is a common threat to both of them”.
“These are welcome remarks”, Ayesha Raza Farooq, a lawmaker from Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s party and member of the Senate’s committee on foreign affairs, said by phone.
He requests the global community to fully support Afghan peace efforts. He proposed that the Conference should identify concrete projects for economic development of Afghanistan and regional connectivity.
A joint statement issued after the meeting said the two NSAs held discussions “in a candid, cordial and constructive atmosphere”.
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The Heart of Asia Conference engages “heart of Asia” countries in honest and result-oriented cooperation for a peaceful and stable Afghanistan. Kabul has long accused Pakistan of supporting the Taliban and turning a blind eye to the presence of Taliban leaders in its territory.
