Special envoys of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh, Shahryar Khan and SK Lamba, met in Dubai on Thursday in back-channel diplomacy ahead of the proposed meeting between the two prime ministers in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meeting in the last week of September.
Sources familiar with the development said the focus of the meeting was at easing the tension between the two countries after the recent incidents along the Line of Control, which resulted in deaths of soldiers on both sides. They also discussed the proposed meeting between Singh and Nawaz Sharif, a report in Hindustan Times said.
India’s poll-bound government has raised the bar for talks with Pakistan, saying the neigbour has to take steps such as avoiding “unprovoked” actions along the LoC, speeding up the trial of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack case, and reigning in the activities of terrorist using its territory to launch attack on India.
Barring any major incident in the coming days, the two prime ministers are likely to meet on September 29 in New York. However, it could be a short meeting.
A judicial panel from Pakistan, which will cross examine the witnesses in the 26/11 case, is expected to visit Mumbai on September 4.
