‘No decision yet on PM’s visit to Pak for SAARC meet’

Ministry of External Affairs on Tuesday clarified that no decision has been taken on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Pakistan for the SAARC nations summit. The clarification came following India’s High Commissioner in Islamabad Gautam Bambawale saying that the Prime Minister was looking forward to visiting Pakistan for SAARC summit.

 “Decisions of such nature are not made so far in advance,” said MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup. Bambawale had also told an event in Karachi on Monday that while India and Pakistan must certainly discuss the entire range of issues, they must keep their focus on the economy which he described as a ‘low-hanging fruit’.

 “I can’t say about the future but as of today Prime Minister Modi is looking forward to visiting Islamabad for the SAARC summit in November,” the Dawn quoted Bambawale as saying at an interactive session of the Karachi Council on Foreign Relations. His comments came amid reports that Modi might keep away from the summit in view of the escalating tensions between India and Pakistan.

 The road to normalization of Pakistan-India relations, he said, lay through greater trade and business, the roadmap for which was prepared by the two governments in 2012. The total trade between the two countries was worth just $2.5 billion a year while its potential was of $20 billion, the Dawn quoted him as saying.

 In an obvious reference to the Kashmir dispute, Bambawale said the two countries should not be talking on just one issue, rather on all issues. He said India had taken a stand in the 1960s and 70s that New Delhi and Beijing must talk on the boundary problem before moving on to other issues. But this was reversed in 1988. Today China was one of India’s largest trading partners, he pointed out.

Asked about “Indian atrocities” in Jammu and Kashmir, the High Commissioner said Indians were as concerned about the people of Kashmir as anyone else in the world. But issue of Jammu and Kashmir was domestic and “you should focus on your problems,” he added.