The ministry officials said there are chances of “gracious handshakes” between Pakistan finance minister Ishaq Dar and his Indian counterpart if Jaitley decides to attend the ministerial conference.
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The Ministry of Finance sources have said that the government has sent invitation letters to the finance ministers of the SAARC member state.
It may be recalled that the Pakistani authorities even refused entry of Indian media persons, including Doordarshan inside the venue of 7th Saarc Home Ministers Meeting in Islamabad.
South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is a regional intergovernmental organisation.
Earlier, media reports from Pakistan claimed that the country had chose to give a “warm welcome” to Jaitley amid speculation that he was likely to visit Islamabad for the conference. “The ball is now in Pakistan’s court”, said Swarup. “My guess is he will go to Pakistan but keep his bilateral engagements with Pakistan to the minimum”, he added.
The Indian government is visibly perturbed after Home Minister Rajnath Singh was severely criticised back home by veteran politicians and former diplomats over his deviation from the SAARC agenda at a recent meeting of home ministers in Islamabad. Singh skipped the concluding session and returned to India, miffed over the alleged ill-treatment by the hosts.
Though Modi did not make any reference to Kashmir valley which is witnessing violence after the killing of Hizbul Commander Burhan Wani, he accused Pakistan of glorifying terrorists and celebrating killings in India.
Meanwhile, Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif said on Tuesday the world needs to take stock of the plight of Kashmiri people and vowed to support their “indigenous freedom struggle”.
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On Monday, Mr Modi’s Independence Day speech delivered an aggressive change of tone in his policy on Pakistan, the NDTV said.
