PM Nawaz meets ISI chief

ISLAMABAD: The director general of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Lt Gen Rizwan Akhtar, on Monday called on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who is scheduled to leave for Kathmandu, Nepal, on Wednesday to attend a regional summit.

The Prime Minister House confirmed the meeting but did not issue a formal statement. Dr Musaddik Malik, the spokesman for the prime minister, said it was a routine meeting where the overall security situation was discussed.

Sources, however, told The Express Tribune that the prime minister’s upcoming Nepal trip was also discussed in the meeting. The PM is leaving for Kathmandu on Nov 26 where he is scheduled to attend the summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc).  Officials from Pakistan and India haven’t ruled out a meeting between Nawaz and Modi on the fringes of summit.

The ongoing ceasefire violations by Indian troops along the LoC also came under discussion, sources said. Separately, the premier also called Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to offer condolences over the death of 50 civilians in the bombing.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 25^th, 2014.