Basit to make 'courtesy call' to Indian foreign secretary in bid to revive talks

Dialogue was suspended last year after the high commissioner met with Hurriyat leaders

Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit will call on the new Indian Foreign Secretary, S Jaishankar, next week to discuss the possibility of resuming bilateral dialogue, the Economic Times reported on Saturday.

Dialogue between the countries was suspended last year after the high commissioner’s meeting with Hurriyat leaders.

According to sources, Basit is set to make a ‘courtesy call’ to the new foreign secretary. However, they believe that talks between the two countries could be revived on Jaishankar's advice to the Indian government.

The report added that a fresh round of dialogue between India and Pakistan could start once the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party form the government in Indian-administered Kashmir. Some members of the PDP are allegedly in favour of dialogue with Pakistan.

Pakistan’s former national security adviser Major General (retd) Mahmud Durrani also met NSA Ajit Kumar Doval and Jaishankar this week and may have brought a message from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, according to a source privy to the development. Durrani’s meetings, sources believe, could have been efforts to normalize relations between the neighbouring countries.

Both Indian officials and Pakistan High Commussion dismissed the Durrani’s meeting as a move to revive dialogue.