Pakistan’s top diplomat says he will visit India

AFP, ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s top foreign affairs official has said he plans to visit India next month for a regional conference, the first high-profile visit since tensions spiralled between the arch-rivals after a deadly attack on an Indian army base.
Sartaj Aziz, adviser to Pakistan’s prime minister Nawaz Sharif and de facto foreign minister, said he will attend the Heart of Asia conference on Afghanistan, to be hosted by India in December, “to defuse the tension”.
“We want to prove that Pakistan is with the multilateral process by attending the Heart of Asia Conference as Afghanistan is our top priority,” he told reporters in Islamabad on Tuesday.
It was not immediately clear if he would hold any bilateral talks with Indian officials during the visit. The decision came after months of surging tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours sparked by a September attack on an Indian base in disputed Kashmir, which killed 19 soldiers and which New Delhi blames on Pakistan-based militants.

Pakistans top diplomat says he will visit India

AFP, ISLAMABAD: Pakistans top foreign affairs official has said he plans to visit India next month for a regional conference, the first high-profile visit since tensions spiralled between the arch-rivals after a deadly attack on an Indian army base. Sartaj Aziz, adviser to Pakistans prime minister Nawaz Sharif and de facto foreign minister, said he will attend the Heart of Asia conference on Afghanistan, to be hosted by India in December, to defuse the tension. We want to prove that Pakistan is with the multilateral process by attending the Heart of Asia Conference as Afghanistan is our top priority, he told reporters in Islamabad on Tuesday. It was not immediately clear if he would hold any bilateral talks with Indian officials during the visit. The decision came after months of surging tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours sparked by a September attack on an Indian base in disputed Kashmir, which killed 19 soldiers and which NewDelhi blames on Pakistan-based militants.