Pakistan ‘anxiously waiting’ for FS-level talks with India: Sartaj Aziz

Washington: Pakistan is “anxiously waiting” for the Indo-Pak Foreign Secretary-level talks, a top aide of Pakistan Prime Minister said yesterday and asked India not to give the non-state actors “a veto” over bilateral ties.

Sartaj Aziz, the foreign policy advisor to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, said that his government’s policy direction with regard to fight against terrorism is ‘clear’ but conceded that the ‘implementation is not very easy’.

He said a Special Investigative Team (SIT) is scheduled to visit India to investigate the Pathankot terrorist attack and collect samples and evidences.

But the progress on the investigation depends on the co-operation from India, he said in response to a question at the Council on Foreign Relations – a top US think-tank.

“As our policy of peaceful neighbourhood, we have reached out to India. We are anxiously waiting for the dialogue to be resumed. The Pathankot incident disrupted the process of the two foreign secretaries’ meetings,” Aziz said.

Responding to a question on how Pakistan would manage the “ability of the spoilers” to take off track the peace efforts of the government in particular with that with India, he conceded that this is a tough task at their disposal.