PCB was hoping Swaraj, who arrived here on Tuesday for the Heart of Asia regional conference, would give the green light to the series after a prolonged uncertainty.
Advertisement
“We were hopeful that Sushma Swaraj’s visit will make things better but it did not happen”, Shahryar Khan was quoted as saying by Waqt News of Pakistan, according to Indian media reports.
On Wednesday, Sushma Swaraj also met Pakistani Prime Minister Sharif and his Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz on the sidelines of the Islamabad conference. In May 2014, Premier Modi invited his Pakistani counterpart to his swearing-in ceremony and both agreed to arrange a meeting of foreign secretaries to explore options for future engagements.
“BJP appreciated the decision to hold comprehensive dialogue between India and Pakistan that would include Confidence Building Measures (CBMs), Siachen, Sir Creek Wullar Barrage, Economic and commercial co-operation, counter terrorism, narcotics control, humanitarian issues, people to people exchange and religious terrorism”, BJP’s Jammu and Kashmir state unit spokesman Virender Gupta said here.
Both the sides decided that security advisors will continue to address all issues connected to terrorism.
The unexpected breakthrough was achieved after Islamabad assured New Delhi of steps to expedite the early conclusion of the trial of Mumbai siege suspects.
India suspended the dialogue process between the two countries after Islamist gunmen attacked the Indian city of Mumbai in November 2008, killing 166 people.
India has long maintained the attackers were directed from Pakistan.
The paper commenting on Swaraj’s meeting with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that they agreed on increased contacts at all level and resolving all the outstanding issues between the two nuclear neighbours through dialogue, during the meeting which lasted for nearly an hour. However, differences on the agenda as well as Pakistan’s insistence on meeting Kashmiri leaders eventually led to the collapse of the meeting.
Advertisement
India had made it clear that the talks could be held only if they were confined to the issue of terrorism and also that Mr. Aziz, who was also the Pakistan NSA, could not meet Hurriyet leaders while in Delhi.
