ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan and India’s governments are confusing the Track II dialogue with back-channel contacts, according to local media sources.
Adviser to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs and National Security Sartaj Aziz claimed that the Track II dialogue he had mentioned was actually a plan for back-channel engagement.
Mr Aziz had at a press conference said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi had agreed to revive the Track-II dialogue on longstanding issues bedevilling the ties between the two countries, including the Kashmir dispute.
Back-channel diplomacy is about contending parties secretly negotiating their conflicts mostly in tandem with the front channel, whereas Track-II is a non-official and people-to-people effort for peace-making.