The list of participant also include 17 countries from European, US, Canada, Japan and Iraq.
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Foreign secretaries S. Jaishanker of India and Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry of Pakistan took part in the meeting. The meeting called by PM Nawaz was to discuss the issues related to regional and national security.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will meet Nawaz Sharif during her visit to Islamabad, the prime minister’s adviser on foreign affairs Sartaj Aziz said on Monday. As per the Foreign Office spokesperson, it was decided in the meeting to continue positive process and constructive dialogue. Visiting Pakistani officials and leaders had for years earlier met Hurriyat leaders. Sartaj Aziz, a liberal by any standards was removed as the NSA and General Naseer Khan Janjua brought in instead. “Pakistan has been made to talk terror, which they refused so far”. “Otherwise, there will be no talks”. Sources said the discussions lasted for over four hours and that all subjects discussed have a security dimension, including Jammu and Kashmir.
Be that as it may, I have been of the view that talks with Pakistan, per se, are important for three reasons.
“It’s a seasoned move by India to signal to the world that it is not shying away from any engagement with Pakistan and also is concerned about the future of Afghanistan”, said Ashok K. Behuria, an analyst at the New Delhi-based Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses. If both take place as planned, we can expect significant improvement in the relations between the two countries.
“The talks with Pakistan have gone through a series of flip-flops and the current talks do not inspire much expectation”.
But today, India and Pakistan did not even refer to the Ufa meeting or the agreement reached there as New Delhi shifted its position on talks.
Moreover, the minister said that Pakistan was working on controlling the after effects of natural disasters by taking it as a challenge.
A combination of pragmatic compulsions and largely behind-the-scenes progress between the neighbours had created the conditions for the fresh attempt at a thaw, officials and experts said.
SAARC summit expected next November.
Congress demanded a statement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on talkson Sundayholding that why it was held in Bangkok and not in India or Pakistan if it was meant to improve relations.
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In August, when talks between the NSAs had failed, there were clear indications that the two countries had fallen into the trap of feeding the TRP-hungry media by first attaching a lot of hype to the meeting and then talking to each other through TV channels and press conferences.
