NEW DELHI: The Heart of Asia conference might help in re-invigorating the relations in South Asia by bringing a thaw in the strained Indo-Pak relation. In the first high level visit from Pakistan since the Pathankot terror attack, its Prime Minister’s Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaz Aziz will be arriving in India to attend the conference in Amritsar in the first week of December.
Whether the visit will bring thaw in the relation of the two nuclear-powered neighbours that are exchanging firepower from big guns along the Line of Control (LoC) in complete contravention to the 2003 Ceasefire Agreement and both sides are witnessing civilian and military casualty.
After days of statements about Aziz attending the conference, Pakistan on Wednesday sent an official confirmation. "We have received an official confirmation from Pakistan that Aziz would be attending the Heart of Asia conference on Afghanistan," Ministry of External Affairs’ Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.
The conference will take place in Amritsar in the first week of December and will see representatives of over 40 countries and raising investments for re-development and re-construction of war-ravaged Afghanistan. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani will also be addressing the ministerial conference.
Officials did not comment if any bilateral meetings on the margins of the conference will be planned to “defuse the tension” between the two countries, as Aziz has been contending. Pakistan media has quoted Aziz saying: "Unlike India, that had sabotaged SAARC summit in Pakistan by pulling out, Pakistan will respond by participating in the Heart of Asia (conference) being held in India. It's a good opportunity to defuse the tension."
It remains unclear so far if Aziz’s counterpart External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will be attending the conference as she has been unwell. The duo had met on the sidelines of the 2015 Heart of Asia Conference and has announced revival of Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue that could never take place.
Both the countries summoned each other's diplomats to protest the ceasefire violations on the LoC.
The year 2016 had begun with the attack on Pathankot airbase. India had provided an unprecedented access to Islamabad’s officials to the base to substantiate the claim that the terror act was planned in Pakistan territory. However, Pakistan called it a false flag operation done by the Indian Armed Forces.
This was followed by Nawaz Sharif government’s rhetoric on Kashmir following the killing of the Hizbul Mujahideen Commander Burhan Wani. Experts see Sharif’s tough posturing in Kashmir coming as his name figured in Panama leaks and he was fending off mysterious posters calling for a coup from Pakistan Army General Raheel Shareef.
Things took a turn for worse following the Uri terror Attack that saw claimed lives of 19 soldiers that was avenged by India by publicly admitted “Surgical Strike”. India and other member countries boycotted the SAARC summit scheduled in Islamabad citing cross border terrorism vitiating the atmosphere in the South Asian Region.