After Indo-Pak NSA meet in Bangkok, Sushma to travel to Islamabad tomorrow

Sushma Swaraj will travel to Pakistan tomorrow to attend a conference on Afghanistan

New Delhi: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is preparing to travel to Pakistan to attend an international conference on Afghanistan.

The visit of Swaraj, who will leave for Pakistan on Tuesday, comes just a day after India and Pakistan on Sunday quietly resumed their stalled dialogue in Thailand's capital Bangkok, with their National Security Advisors discussing an array of contentious bilateral issues and promising to "carry forward the constructive engagement".

A joint statement issued after the Bangkok meeting said Ajit Doval and Naseer Khan Janjua held discussions "in a candid, cordial and constructive atmosphere".

Foreign Secretaries S Jaishanker of India and Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry of Pakistan also took part in the meeting.

"Discussions covered peace and security, terrorism, Jammu and Kashmir, and other issues including tranquility along the LoC (Line of Control)", the statement said.

Doval and Janjua "were guided by the vision of the two leaders for a peaceful, stable and prosperous South Asia. It was agreed to carry forward the constructive engagement", it said.

Coming just two days after the resumption of Indo-Pak dialogue, Sushma Swaraj's visit to Pakistan tomorrow for the Heart of Asia conference - a multilateral engagement on Afghanistan - now has an altogether diferent meaning.

It is expected that Sushma could hold talks on bilateral issues with the Pakistani leadership while in Islamabad.

Pakistan is co-hosting the ministerial-level conference to discuss regional cooperation on Afghanistan.

The Sunday meeting between NSAs of India and Pakistan followed the meeting of Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Nawaz Sharif in Paris on the sidelines of the Conference of Parties (CoP) 21 climate summit on November 30.

After a long gap, Modi and Sharif had a brief but warm chat as they bumped into each other in Paris.

This was the first meeting between them since they met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting in Ufa, Russia, in July this year.

After the Ufa meet, they had directed their Foreign Secretaries to initiate the process of renewal of bilateral talks, including meetings between their NSAs.

But talks between Doval and his then Pakistani counterpart Sartaj Aziz scheduled in New Delhi in August were axed after the Pakistan envoy here insisted on inviting Hurriyat leaders for a reception in honour of Aziz.

(With IANS inputs)