Pak Foreign Secy: Ready for Dialogue, Whenever India Agrees to It

Pak FS Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry stressed on the need for “structured, sustained, result-oriented” dialogue with India.

File photo of Indian Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyan Jaishankar, right, meets with his Pakistani counterpart Aizaz Chaudhry during a discussion at the Foreign Ministry in Islamabad. (Photo: AP)

Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry said that there was no breakthrough in talks with his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar on his recent trip to New Delhi.

The foreign secretary, who was in Delhi on Tuesday to attend the Heart of Asia Senior Officials’ meeting, held talks with his Indian counterpart on bilateral issues, including the resumption of the peace dialogue.

The talks might lead to progress towards the start of the Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue which was agreed by the two countries in 2015.

I would not say there is a breakthrough, but we conveyed our concerns forthrightly.

Aizaz Chaudhry, Pakistan Foreign Secretary

At a media briefing on Wednesday, he stressed the need for a “structured, sustained and result-oriented comprehensive dialogue process”, to resolve the Kashmir dispute and conduct a fair trial in the 2007 Samjhauta Express attack case.

He also expressed concern over the involvement of alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav, in subversive activities in Pakistan and said, “such acts undermine efforts for normalisation”.

Pakistan is ready for dialogue, whenever India agrees to it.

He said the Indian Foreign Secretary did not indicate any date for his visit to Pakistan for discussing a timetable of the comprehensive dialogue.

The two secretaries were to meet in mid-January in Islamabad, but it was postponed because of the Pathankot attack. The two countries have not so far been able to reschedule the meeting.