New Delhi: In a sudden breakthrough in the stalled Indo-Pak dialogue, the national security advisors (NSAs) of the two countries met for four hours in Bangkok Sunday and discussed terrorism, Jammu and Kashmir, and other bilateral issues and agreed to take forward the constructive engagement.
National security advisor Ajit Doval and his Pakistani counterpart Nasir Janjua, their foreign secretaries S Jaishankar and Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry held their marathon meeting in the Thai capital, barely six days after their Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Nawaz Sharif held a brief meeting in Paris obviously with a view to reviving the stalled dialogue process.
A joint statement, issued after the meeting said, ‘‘Pursuant to the meeting of the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan in Paris, the NSAs, accompanied by the Foreign Secretaries, met in Bangkok Sunday.
‘‘Discussions were held in a candid, cordial and constructive atmosphere. They were guided by the vision of the two leaders for a peaceful, stable and prosperous South Asia. Discussions covered peace and security, terrorism, Jammu and Kashmir, and other issues, including tranquility along the LoC. It was agreed to carry forward the constructive engagement.’’
The choice of a neutral third country venue for the NSAs meeting may have been prompted by a desire to avoid a repeat of the events that led to the cancellation of a visit by the then NSA Sartaj Aziz to New Delhi for talks.
Pakistan had called-off the visit after New Delhi had made it clear that Aziz would not be allowed to meet Kashmiri separatist leaders in New Delhi.
For the record, Indian sources said Bangkok had been chosen because of the ‘‘convenience’’ of both the sides. As Foreign Secretary was already in Tokyo in connection with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to India and Pakistani side was also travelling, it was decided to meet in Bangkok due to the ‘‘convenience’’ of the two sides, sources said. PTI
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