Official word on talks expected today

NEW DELHI/ ISLAMABAD: With just 24 hours to go for the planned talks between the foreign secretaries of Pakistan and India, there is no official word as yet whether the key meeting will be held on January 15 as scheduled.

Despite Indian media reports claiming that the talks have been postponed, diplomatic sources on Wednesday said an official announcement regarding the meeting would be made on Thursday.

“Talks have neither been cancelled nor confirmed,” said an Indian diplomat. “We are expecting the announcement on Thursday.”



Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a late-night meeting with Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar to discuss the fate of the talks after Pakistan detained several suspects who might be linked with the Pathankot airbase attack, which left at least 12 people dead earlier this month.

The Indian government has deferred its announcement until Indian National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval returns home from a foreign visit on Thursday.

Indian media reports claimed that New Delhi sought talks between the two countries’ NSAs before the foreign secretaries.

Some sources did not rule out the possibility of a secret huddle in another country between Pakistani NSA Lt Gen (retd) Nasser Khan Janjua and Doval before the foreign secretaries’ talks.

Janjua was reportedly scheduled to fly out of the country late Wednesday night, although there was no official confirmation in this regard.

Meanwhile, Pakistani Prime Minister’s Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj Aziz told The Express Tribune that New Delhi has yet to officially communicate about its decision on the foreign secretaries’ meeting.

A senior official said that in the backdrop of the Pakistani government’s ‘swift’ action on India’s leads on the Pathankot attack, Islamabad was hopeful that the talks would happen as planned.



The Pakistani government on Wednesday not only announced a six-member committee to probe the Indian airbase attack but has also detained several suspects associated with the banned militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), which was accused of being behind the Pathankot assault.

Sushma and Jaishankar went into meetings immediately after receiving the news of JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar, his brother Rauf Azhar and other family members’ arrest.

The arrests – described by Pakistani sources as ‘protective custody’ – are likely to weigh favourably with India, which had demanded ‘prompt and decisive’ action against those who had conspired to carry out the attack.

Voice samples suggested Masood Azhar’s family members were the handlers of those who had carried out the attack. India had given both the voice samples and DNA evidence to Pakistan soon after the attack.

India had noted that Pakistan had accepted without demur the involvement of its citizens in the attack and had not attempted to dissemble or prevaricate.



What India would want is to get custody of the JeM chief so that he could be tried there for crimes committed on Indian soil. However, there is no doubt that India’s basic demands of ‘prompt and decisive’ action have been met.

Political analysts in India believe that talks between the foreign secretaries of the two countries are now inevitable.

The huddle is part of an understanding reached between the two countries last month to resume comprehensive bilateral dialogue to discuss all outstanding issues.

The foreign secretaries are expected to finalise a road map for a series of meetings between officials of the two neighbours on different issues, including peace and security, Kashmir, terrorism, trade and commercial ties, Siachen and Sir Creek.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 14^th, 2016.