PM Modi, Nawaz Sharif may not hold bilateral meeting in New York: Pak media

Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawz Sharif are unlikely to meet in New York next week, as per a Pak media report.

The two leaders will be in the United States for the UN General Assembly.

As per a report in the Dawn, however, a meeting between them is not on the cards.

The Pakistani Daily quoted diplomatic sources as saying that United States was actively involved in mediating between India and Pakistani and trying to reduce tension between them, despite its reluctance to get publicly involved.

The Daily again quoted a diplomatic source as saying that due to the present tensions along the LOC, Pakistan in all likelihood will raise the Kashmir issue more forcefully.

On July 10 this year, breaking the deadlock, India and Pakistan had decided to revive the stalled dialogue process and quicken the Mumbai attack case trial in talks between PM Modi and Nawaz Sharif in Ufa, Russia.

In their first bilateral talks in over an year, the two leaders met for nearly an hour in Ufa's Congress Hall on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit and decided that National Security Advisers Ajit Doval and Sartaj Aziz would meet in New Delhi either next month or in September to discuss "all issues connected to terrorism".

However, the meeting between Doval and Sartaz did not materialse with India putting its foot down on the Pakistani NSA's plans to meet the Kashmiri separatists and raise the Kashmir issue.

At the talks at Ufa, PM Modi also accepted Sharif's invitation and agreed to visit Pakistan next year for the SAARC Summit.

Previously, PM Modi and Sharif had held bilateral talks in May last year in New Delhi when the Pakistan PM came to attend swearing-in ceremony of the Indian leader.

They came face-to- face in Kathmandu in November last for the SAARC Summit but only exchanged pleasantries.

(With Agency inputs)