Nawaz apprises army chief regarding meeting with Jindal: report

Sources say premier told military leadership that Jindal had been sent by India to reduce bilateral tensions

Pakistan's civilian leadership has informed senior military officials that Indian steel magnate Sajjan Jindal's meeting with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif last month, was part of backchannel diplomacy between Islamabad and New Delhi, BBC Urdu reported.

An Indian delegation led by Jindal – a close friend of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi – met Premier Nawaz at his private residence in Murree late April, away from media glare.



Although the government and ruling party initially kept mum about the meeting, speculation after private news media broke the story prompted the prime minister’s daughter, Maryam Nawaz, to confirm the development on her Twitter account. “Mr Jindal is an old friend of the prime minister. Nothing ‘secret’ about the meeting and [it] should not be blown out of proportion,” she tweeted.

Speaking to BBC Urdu, important government officials said PM Nawaz during a recent meeting with Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa took him into confidence regarding his meeting with Jindal.



According to sources, Jindal was sent to Pakistan by Indian authorities to help reduce tensions between the two neighbours. Further, Pakistan's military leadership also took into confidence its officials regarding the meeting. General Bajwa told officials that PM Nawaz's meeting was part of backchannel diplomacy between Pakistan and India, the report stated.

The Foreign Office spokesperson earlier claimed his office was unaware about any such meeting. This provided the belligerent opposition more ammunition to castigate the prime minister on motives behind the secret meeting.

A common friend of Nawaz and Modi, Jindal is thought to be an interlocutor or, at times, a facilitator in some meetings between the two heads of government during the past three years. One such meeting was on the sidelines of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit in Nepal which both sides did not officially confirmed. Jindal is also said to be the man behind Modi’s surprise private visit to Lahore two years ago during which he attended the wedding of Nawaz’s granddaughter.



Some private TV channels said Jindal and his delegation arrived in Islamabad in a special plane, spent some hours in Pakistan, had a lunch meeting with Nawaz and went back to India. Apart from Jindal, the delegation which met the prime minister in Murree comprised Virender Singh and Bubbar Saket Singal.

The report further stated that a close aide of PM Nawaz, while speaking to BBC Urdu said, the premier did not share details of the meeting with his officials, instead only told them that Jindal was in Pakistan to help reduce tensions, adding that Kulbushan Jadhav's case was not and could not be discussed during backchannel talks.

There has been no official comment by the federal government to either accept or deny the report.

This article originally appeared on BBC Urdu.