Salman- Sartaj to discuss possibility of Manmohan Sharif meet NEW DELHI : External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid will meet his Pakistani counterpart Sartaj Aziz on September 13 in Kyrgyzstan during which they will try to schedule a meeting between their Prime Ministers in New York later this month. While a request for a meeting between Khurshid and Pakistan Prime Minister’s national security and foreign policy adviser Aziz was sought by the Pakistani side through their High Commission here, the India side has also given the consent for the same “verbally”, sources said here. They said the meeting between Khurshid and Aziz on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meet in Bishkek was also aimed at reducing the tension between the two countries in the backdrop of a series of ceasefire violations. Both India and Pakistan have blamed each other for the violations and summoned the envoys. While Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has expressed his desire to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York later this month, India has been maintaining that Islamabad needs to address its concerns on ceasefire violations in which five of its soldiers were killed. Last week, Khurshid categorically said that a decision on possible talks between Singh and Sharif will be taken after assessing steps Pakistan takes to address their concerns on recent “unacceptable” incidents. “We are keeping quiet on this and watching. I realise that the time is coming for the New York visit. So, obviously call will be taken by the Prime Minister at an appropriate stage. But we will not hasten it as we do not want to jump the gun. “I think when some major significant thing goes wrong, many things still remain right but you cannot neglect the major thing that has gone wrong. Decision has to be in the interest of the nation,” Khurshid had said
Posted on: Thu, 05 Sep 2013 18:20:23 +0000
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