ISLAMABAD – The decision regarding Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi’s visit to India will be made later keeping in view the outcome of the meeting of the foreign secretaries India and Pakistan in Bhutan early next month, Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said on Saturday.
The foreign secretaries of the two countries would meet on the sidelines of an upcoming SAARC Standing Committee meeting to explore ways to take forward the stalled peace process between the South Asian nuclear neighbours. “The foreign secretaries of Pakistan and India will meet on the margins of the SAARC Standing Committee meeting scheduled to take place in Thimphu on February 6 to 7 2011,” Basit said on Saturday.
“Pakistan has always been in favour of composite dialogue with India because we believe it is the only way to resolve the core dispute of Kashmir and other bilateral issues,” he said. He said Indian Foreign Minister SM Krishna had invited Shah Mahmood Qureshi to visit India when he visited Pakistan in July last year. However, he said the decision would be after the forthcoming foreign secretaries’ meeting.
“The foreign secretaries, who are meeting next month, if succeed to evolve a comprehensive agenda for the resumption of composite dialogue the foreign minister will definitely visit India,” Basit said.
