- Says Foreign secretary-level talks with Pakistan to be held soon
ISLAMABAD, February 15: Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Gautam Bambawale Monday said that India-Pakistan Foreign Secretary level talks are not conditional to the investigation of Pathankot Airbase attack.
Talking to media at a seminar on Pak-India trade, the Indian High Commissioner said that the foreign secretary level talks between India and Pakistan will be held soon but the date is yet to be finalised.
“I can not give any particular date for the secretary level talks, but foreign secretaries from both countries are in constant contact,” explained the Indian envoy.
He said the foreign secretaries and national security advisers of the two countries are in contact.
The ambassador said that the talks are not linked with the ongoing investigation into the Patkhanot air base attack.
The statement has come at a time when the tensions between the two countries are high after the Pathankot Airbase attack in the Indian Punjab.
Gautam Bambawale has rejected the notion that the Foreign Secretary level talks between India and Pakistan are conditional to the investigation of Pathankot incident.
Indian High Commissioner stressed Continued on page 7
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upon measures to improve bilateral trade. Bambawale said that India had no issues with Pak-Afghan relations.
However, he refused to comment upon Pakistani High Commissioner in New Delhi Abdul Basit’s statement about Siachen.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had said the government wants to send a team of special investigators to the Pathankot airbase in India for further investigation, and to probe any possible involvement of Pakistan based individuals.
A special investigation team set up by Pakistan to probe the deadly assault on an Indian airbase last month found no evidence implicating the leader of the group India blamed for the attack, Pakistani security officials said last week. -NNI
