Sartaj Aziz, Khurshid share concerns at Bishkek

Judicial commission on Mumbai attack will visit India on September 23, says Aziz.

NEW DELHI/ ISLAMABAD: An ice-breaking meeting was held on Friday between Prime Minister’s Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz and Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid in the Kyrgyz capital against the backdrop of renewed cross-border tensions.

Though the meeting itself was held on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit, both men shared their concern over the stalled dialogue process.

The two sides agreed that a possible meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh in New York, on the sidelines of UN General Assembly (UNGA) later this month, will require a conducive atmosphere and delivery for it to materialise.

In the first high-level meeting between Pakistan and India since the recent spate of ceasefire violations, the foreign policy chiefs discussed “the imperative of maintaining ceasefire along the LoC by making the existing mechanisms more effective,” a senior Indian foreign office official confirmed.



Speaking to media after the meeting, Aziz said “We agreed that it was important to respect the 2003 ceasefire agreement in order to reduce tensions.”

Aziz further said, “I emphasised that the objective of establishing durable peace in South Asia is of such paramount importance that it should not be held hostage to electoral politics or the process allowed to be derailed by a single incident.”

“I conveyed our concern that the momentum which the two leaders had created for the composite dialogue has been arrested by the unfortunate incident of August 6,” he added.

Commenting on the Mumbai attacks case, Pakistan’s top foreign policy official said that a prosecutor had been appointed and the Judicial Commission’s visit to India was scheduled for September 23.

Welcoming the move, Indian external affairs minister said a “conducive atmosphere” means LoC cross firing must end. Khurshid also called for meaningful progress in prosecuting the eight persons accused of planning the Mumbai attacks.

A report published in The Hindustan Times suggests that September 29 might see a brief meeting between the two leaders in New York. Quoting foreign office sources, the report said, it was not clear if the two PMs’ paths would cross as schedules can be different.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who is due in New York from September 22 to 29, is likely to meet a host of world leaders, including US President Barack Obama, Iranian President Hassan Rowhani and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The premier will address the UN session on September 26.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 14^th, 2013.