India, Pakistan Foreign Secretaries May Meet in Kabul Tomorrow

Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale will come face to face with his Pak counterpart, Tehmina Janjua, in Kabul.

Vijay Gokhale, Foreign Secretary, India

(Photo: The Quint)

Amid rising tensions between the two countries, Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale will come face to face with his Pakistani counterpart, Tehmina Janjua, in Kabul this week for the Kabul conference, reported Hindustan Times.

Gokhale will attend the conference on Wednesday, 28 February, in which 25 countries will be participating.

Though an official one-on-one meeting between the foreign secretaries hasn’t been confirmed by either of the two countries, if it takes place, it would be the first such meet between India and Pakistan since National Security Advisor Ajit Doval met his Pakistan counterpart in December 2017 in Bangkok.

The claimed meeting of the two secretaries at the Kabul conference comes in the backdrop of the recent attacks on an army camp in Jammu and Kashmir’s Sunjwan. The attack claimed the lives of five soldiers and one civilian. India has blamed Pakistan for the attack.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sirtharaman said Pakistan will “pay for the misadventure.” According to NDTV, Sitharaman had alleged that three terrorists of the Jaish-e Mohammad, who attacked the army camp, were controlled by handlers in Pakistan.

Pakistan is "expanding the arch of terror to areas south of Pir Panjal ranges and resorting to ceasefire violations to assist infiltration," she said.

According to HT, the “Kabul Process” meeting is an Afghan government-led initiative with stakeholders to find lasting peace in the war-torn country, including the contours of engaging with Taliban outfits. This is the second such meeting of the Kabul Process.

(With inputs from Hindustan Times and NDTV)

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