ISLAMABAD: Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh is likely to highlight Pathankot and Mumbai attacks during the south Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) conference; however, the rule doesn’t allow members to highlight any two-pronged issues.
The Indian minister would also stress on the need for member states to cut off terror sponsors and take urgent action against ‘state actors’ that aid and support global terror, without any straight reference to Pakistan, said Indian media quoting sources.
Saarc conference started on Tuesday in Islamabad on the sidelines of which the interior ministers of Pakistan and India are expected to meet amid mounting tension over Kashmir.
The conference will witness meeting sessions between the Interior ministers and other delegates of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka during the 3-day gathering.
During the first day of the meet, aimed at strengthening networking and enhancing information sharing among Saarc member countries, additional secretaries-level meetings were held. On Wednesday, secretaries of the member countries would meet in the federal capital.
Interior minister-level talks would be held on August 4 following which Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif would address the ending session of the most important South-Asian meet.
Officials in the Indian government have claimed that Singh would not have a separate meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan.
Recently, unrest in the divided Kashmir created a stand-off between Pakistan and India as they both accused each other of triggering violence in the valley and claimed the territory in its entirely.
In the past too, attempts were planned to promote good relations between Pakistan and India but they were always upset by unpleasant incidents.
Previously, the infamous Pathankot attack in India spoiled the efforts for normalising bilateral relations with Pakistan. India had also blamed Pakistan for organising Mumbai attacks in 2008 that left over 166 people dead.
