Aziz day early for Amritsar meet

Simran Sodhi

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 3

Sartaj Aziz, Pakistan’s de facto foreign minister, landed in Amritsar a day ahead of schedule on Saturday to attend the global “Heart of Asia (HOA)” conference on Afghanistan, apparently because of “uncertain weather forecast.” On arrival, he sent a bouquet and get-well-soon wishes to the ailing External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.  

Hours later, Aziz along with foreign ministers of four countries called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi who told them that it was important to end terrorism and violence for fostering stability in Afghanistan and the region.

In the run-up to the conference, Pakistan had pushed for resumption of talks with statements by Aziz and Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit to that effect. India, on the other hand, has stuck to its stand of not engaging in a dialogue with Pakistan as long as cross-border terrorism persists.

Aziz’s visit here is the first high-level visit from Pakistan since December last year. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had then attended the HOA conference in Islamabad and both sides had announced resumption of a ‘comprehensive bilateral dialogue’ which, of course, never took off.

Neeraj Bagga adds from Amritsar: Senior officials of several countries today prepared a draft “Amritsar Declaration” to be released during the HOA conference. Modi and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani are to jointly inaugurate the conference tomorrow.

The six key areas on which the participating countries are focusing are disaster management, counter-terrorism, counter-narcotics, trade and investment, regional infrastructure and education.   

With Afghanistan facing a resurgent Taliban, officials of major regional and global powers explored ways to effectively deal with terrorism and its complex security matrix. They also discussed enhancing Afghanistan’s connectivity with South and Central Asian countries to boost trade. The meeting was co-chaired by India’s Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar and Deputy Foreign Minister of Afghanistan Hikmat Khaleel Karzai.

Both India and Afghanistan are likely to corner Pakistan on terror emanating from its soil and may press for a counter-terror framework. The conference is taking place amid heightened tension between India and Pakistan.