Islamabad, Sep 21 (Inditop.com) Hoping to resume the stalled peace process and discuss “the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir”, Pakistani Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir said Monday that he would meet his Indian counterpart Nirupama Rao in New York Sep 26.
The meeting of the two foreign secretaries will be followed by talks between India’s External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna and Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Geo TV reported.
Bashir, who leaves for New York Sep 24, said his meeting with Rao would be in accordance with the decisions and the joint statement issued after the meeting of the prime ministers of the two countries at Sharm-el-Shaikh in July.
Salman Bashir said: “The meetings between foreign secretaries and foreign ministers of Pakistan and India in New York are the follow up of the summit meeting held in Sharm-el-Sheikh.”
He hoped that the meetings would pave the way to formally launch the stalled peace process between the two countries.
Referring to the agenda of the meetings of the two foreign secretary and foreign ministers, Bashir said: “All the issues between the two countries including terrorism and the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir will be discussed in these meetings.”
Krishna had said Thursday that the two foreign secretaries would meet in New York to review Islamabad action’s against the 26/11 perpetrators.
“So far the foreign secretaries have not been able to meet. Hopefully, they will meet in New York, and depending on the outcome, the foreign ministers will meet,” Krishna said in New Delhi.
The meeting between the foreign ministers on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly was agreed to during the discussions between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement summit in the Egyptian coastal town of Sharm-el-Sheikh July 16.
According to the contentious Sharm el-Sheikh joint statement, the foreign secretaries of the two countries will meet “as often as possible” before the foreign ministers meet on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
