A new book reveals that India and Pakistan discussed a communal division of Jammu & Kashmir along the Chenab river before the Kargil war in 1999.
The opposition Peoples Democratic Party Monday described the meeting between the foreign policy adviser to Pakistani Prime Minister Sartaj Aziz and the separatist All Parties Hurriyat Conference leaders as a 'welcome revival of the process initiated by the National Democratic Alliance government' and said that 'it should be carried forward in all its dimensions'.
"I wrote a personal letter to Mr Sartaj Aziz for the grant of her visa to Pakistan. However, Mr Aziz has not shown the courtesy even to acknowledge my letter," she tweeted.
Pakistan National Security Advisor Sartaj Aziz brings to New Delhi a newfound Pakistani confidence, stemming from its leverage in Afghanistan, says Ajai Shukla
Aziz made the statement in response to another made by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.
Aziz said the comprehensive dialogue in January between Pakistan and India will focus on all outstanding issues, including Kashmir.
Pakistan Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid said putting conditions on a guest was against traditions, as India first invited Pakistan and was now creating hurdles.
He did not mention the issue of Jammu and Kashmir.
He also said it was for India to decide on dates for Foreign Secretary-level talks, postponed in the wake of the terror strike.
The conference, which will be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, will see participation of over 40 countries.
It is the first time in nearly nine years that India's foreign minister travelled to Pakistan even as the ties between the two neighbours remained tense over the Kashmir issue and cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan.
The brief exchange and handshake between Jaishankar and Sharif took place at a banquet dinner hosted by the Pakistani prime minister at his residence in honour of the delegates attending a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
Dossiers about Indian involvement in subversive activities in Pakistan will be presented before the UN, Aziz said.
Bharatiya Janata Party President Rajnath Singh on Sunday said that the United Progressive Alliance government had committed a 'diplomatic blunder' by allowing Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's advisor Sartaj Aziz to meet Kashmiri separatists on Indian soil and demanded that the talks be stopped.
When asked, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup only said, "There was no meeting."
According to top official sources, the foreign secretaries will meet only after the Special Investigation Team from Pakistan arrives in India and makes concrete progress in the probe.
Osama Ali, a 24-year old resident of Rawalkot in PoK, has been diagnosed with a tumour in his liver and wants to seek treatment in Delhi. "PoK is an integral part of India. Pakistan has illegally occupied it. We are giving him visa. No letter required," Swaraj tweeted.
The upcoming National Security Advisor-level talks between Pakistan and India are in doldrums as both countries seem to be in no mood to defrost the tensions between them.
Pak-US ties are sliding down the hill due to difference over handling of peace issue in Afghanistan and US' growing defence tie with India.
Pakistan has admitted that the timing of its high commissioner's meeting with the Hurriyat leaders in New Delhi ahead of the foreign secretary-level talks was "perhaps not totally right".
Pakistan's push to secure NSG membership comes at a time when India is also looking to secure membership of the elite grouping.
Pakistan's incoming Pakistan Muslim League-N government will play its part to lower tensions with India and to normalise relations between the two countries, says a top aide of prime minister-designate Nawaz Sharif.
With Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif deciding to retain Pakistan's foreign affairs portfolio, former minister Sartaj Aziz will play a crucial role as his advisor in charting a way forward on issues like relations with India and the United States
Jadhav, who was reportedly arrested in Balochistan after he entered from Iran, has been accused by Pakistan of planning "subversive activities" in the country.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday chose Lt Gen Asim Munir as the new Army chief to replace incumbent General Qamar Javed Bajwa.
Titled Sangbaaz (stone-pelters), the song expresses solidarity with the youth of Kashmir.
o dates have been fixed in this regard yet. The ministry of external affairs is expected to make a formal statement in this regard on Thursday.
Pakistan is still considering the dates proposed by India for the NSA-level talks between the two nations, an official of the Foreign Office said in Islamabad on Wednesday.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will travel to Islamabad on Tuesday on a two-day visit during which she will hold talks with her Pakistani counterpart Sartaj Aziz and attend a multilateral conference on Afghanistan.
India on Saturday night described as unfortunate Pakistan's decision to call of the Indo-Pak NSA-level talks, asserting that it did not set any "pre-conditions" as stated by that country.
"Pakistan is now waiting for India's response to the proposed dates," Sartaj Aziz, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's adviser on foreign affairs, said.
"First of all I would like to welcome it. I am not one of the cynics who always put ifs and buts," Kasuri told exclusively to ANI.
Aziz also attended a dinner where he exchanged pleasantries with PM Modi.
According to Dawn, Modi in his message reiterated India's desire to build good neighbourly relations with Pakistan.
The separatist leaders were told that "restrictions have been imposed on their movement in the national capital" ahead a possible talks between NSA Sartaj Aziz and his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval.
The prime minister told the cabinet that any dialogue with India without Kashmir issue would be futile.
Geelani's supporters were demonstrating in front of his house in Srinagar to protest his house arrest.
India is yet to receive visa applications from Pakistan's special investigation team members who are supposed to visit the country to probe the Pathankot terror attack, Indian government sources said.
Ali Haider Gilani, son of ex-premier Gilani, has been recovered from Afghanistan's Ghazni province, Pakistan's Foreign Office said in a statement.
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