India's foreign minister to visit Pakistan for first time since 2012

Sartaj Aziz says Sushma Swaraj, Ashraf Ghani will arrive tomorrow to attend regional conference on Afghanistan

Top Indian diplomat Sushma Swaraj will arrive in Islamabad on Tuesday (December 8) to attend a regional conference on Afghanistan, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said on Monday.

“Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj will reach Islamabad tomorrow at the invitation of Pakistan to attend the Heart of Asia security conference,” Sartaj told media men in the federal capital.



The Indian external affairs minister will be aided by her foreign secretary S Jaishankar, according to The Times of India.

Sushma’s arrival will mark the first significant engagement between the two nuclear-armed nations since the meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in Ufa, Russia in July this year.

The Indian minister is expected to call on PM Nawaz besides meeting with Prime Minister’s Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz on the sidelines of the Heart of Asia security conference in the federal capital.

Further, the top Indian diplomat will most likely return to her country in the evening the next day, making her visit last not more than 24 hours. “Both these engagements on the sidelines of the Afghanistan conference will be in the nature of courtesy meetings as Pakistan is the host nation,” the Indian daily said, quoting government sources.



The newspaper maintained that the Indian government had for a while though about sending the Indian Minister of State for external affairs General (retd) VK Singh to attend the conference in Islamabad, however, the decision was revised after Nawaz-Modi handshake in Paris on November 30.

Last month, Pakistan had extended an invitation to Sushma for the meeting of the Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process to be held in Islamabad on December 8 and 9.

On Sunday, foreign secretaries of Pakistan and India, aided by their respective national security advisers, discussed peace and security issues between the two countries. “Pursuant to the meeting of the prime ministers of India and Pakistan in Paris, the national security advisers, accompanied by the foreign secretaries, met in Bangkok today,” said a statement issued by the Foreign Office.



Issues related to peace and security, terrorism, Jammu and Kashmir, including tranquility along Line of Control (LoC) came under discussion during the meeting, the statement said, adding “it was agreed to carry forward the constructive engagement.”

On November 30, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had approached PM Nawaz and both held a brief meeting on the side-lines of a UN climate summit in the French capital.

Afghan president confirms visit to Islamabad

Meanwhile, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani will also be visiting Islamabad for the conference, officials confirmed on Monday.

A spokesperson for Abdullah Abdullah, Afghanistan's chief executive, said on Monday that Ghani will attend the conference, set to be jointly inaugurated by him and PM Nawaz Sharif. Ghani's last visit to Pakistan was in November 2014.



Tensions have been unusually high between Islamabad, Delhi and Kabul, but the prime minister held brief meetings with Ghani and Modi in Paris last week that seem to have broken the ice.

The meeting with Ghani, on the sidelines of a climate change conference in Paris, came amid Kabul's accusations that Islamabad supported the Taliban most recently in the northern city of Kunduz, briefly captured in September by militants as part of a nationwide surge in attacks.

Pakistan had hosted in July a milestone first round of peace negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban at Murree. But the talks soon stalled when the Taliban belatedly confirmed the death of their longtime leader Mullah Omar.

The conference will provide opportunity for Pakistan to further mend its relations with neighbouring Afghanistan and India, observers said. Foreign ministers of China, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Iran have also confirmed their participation, according to foreign ministry.