Melting ice: Indian FM likely to visit Pakistan next week
Final decision regarding Sushma Swaraj's visit is likely to be announced by Friday.
NEW DELHI (Web Desk) - Hopes rekindle for thaw in Indo-Pak ties as Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is likely to visit Pakistan next week, the Indian media reported on Thursday.
Pakistan is hosting a 14-nation ministerial-level conference on December 7 and 8 to discuss regional cooperation on Afghanistan. Swaraj has been invited but New Delhi has so far given no confirmation whether she will attend.
The ‘Heart of Asia‘ conference will be attended by representatives from Azerbaijan, China, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and the UAE.
The Indian media sources told that prospects of the Indian minister‘s visit were "fairly bright" but a final decision was likely to be announced by Friday. After the cabinet meeting, Swaraj had stayed back and held discussions with Prime Minister Narendra Modi for nearly 20 minutes.
In the conference, Afghan peace process will be the topic of main discussion besides cooperation between other regional countries.
Indo-Pak ties are going through a chill since the cancellation of talks between the National Security Advisors of both sides in August this year. Both sides have also accused each other of repeated ceasefire violations along the Line of Control (LoC).
The report of Swaraj‘s possible visit comes three days after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif held a brief chat with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on the sidelines of climate summit in Paris.
"I had good discussions with the Indian Prime Minister in a good way, in a good environment and even they have expressed that we should take our issues forward. And we also have the same opinion and hope," PM Sharif told media after the meeting.
READ MORE: Nawaz Sharif, Narendra Modi meet in Paris
Earlier during a meeting with British counterpart David Cameron on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Maltese capital, Nawaz Sharif said that Pakistan was ready for talks with India without preconditions.
Recently, Indian TV journalist Barkha Dutta in her debut book, This Unquiet Land - Stories from India‘s Fault Lines, revealed that Sharif and Modi had an hour-long secret meeting on the sidelines of the Saarc summit in Kathmandu last year.
READ MORE: Sharif, Modi had secret meeting during Saarc 2014, claims Indian media
The meeting was facilitated by Indian steel magnate Sajjan Jindal, who is the brother of former Congress MP Naveen Jindal.
