Attempting to ease bilateral tensions, Pak PM Nawaz Sharif also said he was looking forward to his proposed meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New York in late September. The Pak leader also said that during his meeting with the Indian PM, the two will discuss steps to “build trust and consolidate this relationship”.
Asked if the two PMs would indeed meet, external afairs minister Salman Khurshid said it was not the appropriate time for this query and a call would be taken once all the inputs are in.
While it may be too early to take a call on the Sharif-Singh meeting, it appears unlikely that New Delhi will now show any haste in resuming the peace dialogue which was stalled in January 2013 after the beheading of an Indian soldier by a Pakistani “Border Action Team”.
Sending out a positive signal to the Indian government, the new Pak PM also said his country is willing to discuss measures to strengthen existing mechanisms at the political and military levels with India.
It’s noteworthy that the Pak PM’s statement makes no reference to India’s charge that Pak Army troops were involved in the attack and that nothing happens on the LoC without the direct involvement of the Pak Army.