Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi are expected to just “shake hands” when they meet on the sidelines of a regional summit to be held in Nepal later this month, according to local media reports.
The two prime ministers are scheduled to attend the summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in Khatmandu on November 26 and 27.
“There will be a formal handshake but no bilateral meeting is planned as yet,” said a senior government official. “At this stage neither side has shown any interest in arranging a bilateral meeting between the two leaders.”
Recently, Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs Syed Tariq Fatemi said the onus of resuming the dialogue process was now on India. “India would now have to make the first move to start the stalled peace talks,” he told the BBC Urdu in an interview.
However, signals coming from New Delhi were not encouraging as the Indian External Affairs Ministry rejected reports regarding the possibility of a Nawaz-Modi meeting in Kathmandu.
“There is no such proposal from any side,” said the ministry spokesperson.
Conversely, some sources claimed that a meeting between the two leaders could still be possible given the fact that some world powers, particularly the United States, would want de-escalation of tension between the two neighbours.
Sources said army chief General Raheel Sharif, who is travelling to Washington, on November 16, would brief the American civil and military leadership about the situation along the Line of Control (LoC) and Working Boundary.
Holding India responsible for the current situation, another official insisted that New Delhi wanted to declare Pakistan a ‘terrorist state’ by ratcheting up tensions.
At least 21 people mostly civilians have been killed on both sides of the frontier since the skirmishes between the two countries erupted in early October. Both sides blamed each other for starting the hostilities. The clashes were worst since the two nuclear-armed neighbours agreed on a landmark ceasefire in 2003.
