New Delhi: Pakistan's foreign secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry raised the Kashmir issue upfront with his counterpart S Jaishankar on Tuesday, saying it remained the core issue for Pakistan.
Pakistan has sought to provide fresh thrust to the J&K issue in the recent past and it was made obvious further with the manner in which Islamabad declared that Kashmir was its main topic of discussion even before the meeting between the foreign secretaries was over.
Even as he underscored his country's commitment to friendly ties with India, Chaudhry insisted in the meeting that Kashmir required "a just solution in accordance with the United Nations Security Council resolutions".
"The meeting provided a useful opportunity to exchange views on recent developments in a bilateral context," Chaudhry said. India is expected to react shortly to what transpired in the meeting
Pakistan had been keen on a meeting between the two top diplomats to ensure that its Kashmir agenda did not appear as diluted, as India continued to underline the significance of terrorism in bilateral ties.
It is well known that Pakistan army had not taken kindly to the meeting last year in Ufa between PM Narendra Modi and his counterpart Nawaz Sharif because of Sharif's alleged failure to mention Kashmir upfront.
The joint statement after that meeting had no specific mention of J&K, which was said to have upset Pakistan's army chief Raheel Sharif.
The two foreign secretaries met in South Block on Tuesday on the sidelines of the 'Heart of Asia-Istanbul process' conference.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) confirmed the meeting between two Foreign Secretaries on it official Twitter handle.
"Another important bilateral (meeting) for Foreign Secretary as he meets with his Pakistan counterpart Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry," MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted.
Foreign Secretary Chaudhary was earlier received by Pakistan's High Commissioner Abdul Basit upon his arrival at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here Tuesday morning.
Before meeting Chaudhary, Jaishankar met Afghanistan's Deputy Finance Minister Hekmat Karzai.
"Beginning with the bilaterals. Before Heart of Asia Meeting, FS meets Afghan Dy FM Hekmat Karzai for first meeting," Swarup tweeted.
The Foreign Ministers of both nations met in November last year during the SAARC summit in Nepal. The talks between the two sides suffered a setback after the terror attack on Pathankot's air base.
Today's session comes on the sidelines of a regional summit in Delhi about Afghanistan.
India has made it clear that it expects firm action from Pakistan in punishing top leaders of the terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed whose chief Masood Azhar masterminded the Pathankot attack.
Last month, Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj met her counterpart Sartaj Aziz at a summit in Nepal and emphasized that any dialogue between the two countries will have to include a detailed response from Islamabad on how it plans to act against those responsible for the Pathankot attack.
