Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will leave for New York on September 24 or 25 to attend United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) annual session and is expected to meet some world leaders on the sidelines of the session including his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi. Talking to Business Recorder, Foreign Office spokesperson Qazi Khalilullah said the Prime Minister would leave for New York either on 24th or 25th of this month but expressed his inability to confirm his meetings with world leaders on the sidelines of the UNGA session.
"We are still in the process of finalisation of his engagements in New York and it is hard to confirm his scheduled meetings at this stage," he said, adding world leaders usually met on the sidelines of this important occasion. To a question about any possibility of a meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, he stated that at present there was no such proposal on the table.
When asked what would be Pakistan's response if India requested a meeting between the two premiers, the spokesperson declined to comment, saying he was not able to comment on "ifs and buts", adding Pakistan was ready for talks with India without pre-conditions but added that there would be no talks if Kashmir issue was not included on the agenda. Sources said the two prime ministers were likely to meet in New York and there were possibilities that the two sides would discuss ways to proceed further in the light of Ufa declaration.
On July 10, 2015 in Russian city Ufa, the two premiers had expressed readiness to discuss all outstanding issues and agreed on a meeting of the national security advisers (NSAs) of the two countries. But the scheduled meeting at New Delhi between the two NSAs could not take place with Indian insisting on limiting discussions to terrorism related issues while Pakistan was of the opinion that Kashmir being an outstanding issue must be part of the agenda of the talks.
"As there are still official channels of communication between the two countries and Director General Pakistan Rangers is currently in India holding talks with his Indian counterparts...so, the channels of interactions between the two countries are not permanently blocked," said the official source who requested not to be named. As far as the issue of Kashmir is concerned, the official maintained that the international community had supported Pakistan's stance, as there were a number of UN Security Council resolutions calling for solution of the dispute. Pakistan, during the recent visit of US National Security Adviser Susan Rice to Islamabad, also sought United States due role in easing tension between the two countries and to resume the stalled dialogue process.
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