New Delhi: In the midst of current chill in
Indo-Pak relations, a SAARC Home Ministers` conference is
scheduled next month in Islamabad to which P Chidambaram plans
to go subject to Foreign Office`s approval.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and External Affairs
Minister S M Krishna will discuss the issue and if the
External Affairs Ministry allows, the Home Minister will
travel to Pakistan to attend the SAARC meeting, a highly
placed source said.
The SAARC Interior/Home Ministers` conference is
scheduled to be held from February 20 for three days in
Islamabad.
In case Chidambaram travels to Islamabad, it would be
the first Ministerial visit to Pakistan since May, 2008 when
the then External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee had gone
for talks as part of composite dialogue. Things worsened after
the Mumbai terror attack on November 26, 2008.
The third SAARC interior ministers` conference was
postponed from November 24 and 27, 2009 at the request from
Bangladesh because of parliamentary polls in that country.
The meeting will be attended by ministers from
Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal,
Pakistan and Sri Lanka and is expected to discuss regional
cooperation for dealing with the menace of terrorism,
narcotics and organised crime.
The first such meeting was held in Dhaka on 11 May 2006
followed at New Delhi on 25 October 2007.
PTI
