Top Indian diplomat arrives in Pakistan for talks

ISLAMABAD - A top Indian diplomat arrived in Islamabad on Tuesday for talks on bilateral issues, the first ever high-level contact in seven months, officials said.

Indian Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar will hold official talks with his Pakistani counterpart Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, the Foreign Ministry said.

India cancelled foreign secretaries' talks with Pakistan in August after Pakistan's high commissioner in New Delhi met with Kashmiri separatist leaders. India, in an angry reaction, described the meeting as Pakistan's "continued efforts to interfere in India's internal affairs".

Pakistan defended the meeting on the plea that it traditionally consults Kashmiri leaders ahead of talks with India. Pakistan had been insisting that India should take the initiative to revive the process as it had unilaterally cancelled the scheduled talks.

Pakistani officials are hopeful that the visit by the Indian official could be a best opportunity for both countries to end the deadlock in the "Composite Dialogue" process.

Jaishankar's visit is seen important as it takes place at a time when the relations between the two countries are tense over the current cross-border firing.

Although Jaishankar's visit is part of his trip to the member countries of the regional group, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, officials of the two countries say "bilateral issues" will also be discussed.

"I would not like to speculate at this stage what exactly would be the agenda of the talks. However, whenever Pakistan-India dialogue resumes, we expect that all matters would be on the table for discussion including Jammu and Kashmir dispute, Siachin, water issues, confidence building measures, people to people contacts, trade matters," Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said on Thursday.

In New Delhi, Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin had said ahead of the visit that his country is ready to discuss all issues with Pakistan under a bilateral agreement of early 70s known as "Simla Agreement".