Jaishankar in Islamabad, Holds Talks

Islamabad, March 3 (IANS) Indian Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar on Tuesday held talks with his Pakistani counterpart Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhary during his visit to Islamabad.

Jaishankar, who arrived in Islamabad earlier in the day as part of his SAARC yatra, is also slated to call on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

He is expected to meet Adviser on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, and Special Assistant to Prime Minister Tariq Fatemi.

According to the Pakistani media, on the top of the agenda for Pakistan in the talks "will be matters relating to Jammu and Kashmir dispute, Siachen, water issues, confidence-building measures, people to people contacts and trade".

While Jaishankar's visit to Islamabad is part of his trip to member states of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), "but all the issues between the two countries are expected to come under discussion", said a Pakistan Foreign Office official, Pakistan Today reported.

The visit comes as Prime Minister Sharif, speaking to India Today, said he hoped that the "resumption of the talks will lead to a sustained and meaningful dialogue" between the two countries.

Sharif said he was grateful to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the latter's telephone calls to him in the wake of the gruesome Peshawar attacks and on the eve of the India-Pakistan cricket match.

"He wished the Pakistan team good luck and I wished the Indian team the same. I told Modi that it is good if the Pakistan and India cricket teams meet in the World Cup finals," Sharif told India Today.

Jaishankar's Pakistan visit comes within two days of a new government taking charge in Jammu and Kashmir, and seven months after India called off foreign secretary talks over the Pakistani envoy in New Delhi hobnobbing with Kashmiri separatists.

Jaishankar flew in from Dhaka. He was in Bhutan on Sunday on the first leg and will travel to Kabul on Wednesday as part of the SAARC Yatra.