Uncertainty looms over Indo-Pak FS talks

India and Pakistan are yet to decide upon a date to hold Foreign Secretary (FS)-level talks, which has been put off in the wake of Pathankot airbase terror attack.

"The two Foreign Secretaries are yet to decide upon a mutually-convenient date. As soon as the date is finalised, we will let you know. Possibility of talks in the near future is always there,’’ External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said in his weekly media briefing on Thursday. 

The two Foreign Secretaries were scheduled to meet in mid-January in Islamabad.

In response to a question, the spokesperson said that actionable information and other inputs relating to Pathankot terror attack have been given to Pakistan. Earlier this month, the airbase near the border was attacked by a "fidayeen’’ squad and all six terrorists were killed by security forces. Seven security personnel also lost their lives in the operation.

Swarup said the broad agreement, which was reached during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s brief visit to Lahore in December 2015, was that the Foreign Secretaries of the two countries would meet and decide upon the schedule and modalities of comprehensive dialogue and the two National Security Advisers (NSAs) would talk on terror. 

"As and when two Foreign Secretaries meet, the issue of Pathankot terror attack would also figure,’’ he said, adding that there has been a continuous communication between New Delhi and Islamabad.  

Replying to another query about reports emanating from Pakistan on a court’s refusal to give voice samples to India relating to November 2008 Mumbai terror attack, Swarup said nothing had come through official channels. 

"The planning, training and financing of Mumbai terror strike had taken place in Pakistan, where 99 per cent evidence is there. It is for them to present requisite evidence before the court so that the perpetrators are brought to justice,’’ he said. 

Swarup added India sees the trial as a test of Pakistan’s sincerity in bringing the perpetrators of 26/11 terror attack to justice.

However, India’s another neighbour, Bangladesh, is sending its Foreign Secretary M. Shahidul Haque to New Delhi on Sunday for talks with his Indian counterpart Dr S Jaishankar.

"The visit of Bangladesh Foreign Secretary will provide us an with opportunity to take forward our cooperation, which is multi-faceted and multi-sectoral. We will further expand our cooperation, particularly after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Bangladesh in June last, when a number of agreements were signed. We have to take that forward," Swarup  said.

Jaishankar had visited Bangladesh twice last year – in March and June with PM Modi – when the centerpiece of the visit was the ratification of the four-decade-old Land Boundary Agreement. The two sides had also inked a number of pacts to boost connectivity, trade and security cooperation.

Modi and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina were witness to the ratification and exchange of documents to finally implement the 1974 Land Boundary Agreement, which allowed the two sides to swap over 160 tiny enclaves whose residents were virtually stateless subjects living in squalid conditions.

The two countries had also renewed a protocol on inland water transit and trade and signed two agreements for starting trans-border bus services on the Dhaka-Shillong-Guwahati and Kolkata-Dhaka-Agartala routes, with an aim to benefit tourists and residents of India’s landlocked North-Eastern states by cutting down travel time.