Indian Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar and his Pakistani counterpart Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry at a previous meeting. Credit: Reuters
Indian Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar and his Pakistani counterpart Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry at a previous meeting. Credit: Reuters
NEW DELHI (Diya TV) — For the first time since their postponed January meeting, the Indian and Pakistan foreign secretaries sat down Tuesday to discuss a peace process between the two nations, talks that have been stalled after New Delhi awaited Pakistani action on the terror attack against an Indian Air Force base at Pathankot earlier this year.
Pakistan’s foreign secretary, Aizaz Chaudhury, ignored traditional protocol during the talks by releasing a statement while talks were still ongoing. India responded by saying they expect firm action against Masood Azhar, the chief of terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed, which attacked the Pathankot air force base in January.
India’s foreign secretary, S. Jaishankar, said Chaudhury “clearly conveyed that Pakistan cannot be in denial on the impact of terrorism on the bilateral relationship,” in a statement released Tuesday. Additionally, he stressed that India recently moved to have Azhar declared a terrorist by a United Nations sanctions committee. The move was blocked by China via the veto process, allegedly at the command of the Pakistan government.
Indian Foreign secretary S Jaishankar with his Pakistani counterpart Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry.
India also focused its agenda on rebutting Pakistani claims that a former naval officer who was arrested in Balochistan was an agent of the country’s Research and Analysis Wing, the primary foreign intelligence agency of India. Islamabad has said that Kulbushan Jhadav, who was arrested by Pakistani officials on the allegations of being an Indian spy, has confessed to instigating the separatist movement in the province of Balochistan.
Jaishankar reportedly asked Pakistani officials why they believe an organized intelligence agency would disperse a spy into a nation without a valid passport or visa — when arrested, Jhadav was found with a valid Indian passport issued in a fake name and with a visa for Iran, according to Pakistani officials.
