Delhi, Kabul angry over terror from Pak; HoA summit to commence today

New Delhi: Pakistan PM’s adviser on foreign affairs Sartaj Aziz advanced his travel plans and reached Amritsar shortly after 7 pm on Saturday by a special flight for the two-day Heart of Asia (HoA) Summit on Saturday.

In a goodwill gesture on Saturday evening, Mr Aziz sent a bouquet to external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj extending his “sincere good wishes for her full and speedy recovery” from illness.

Ms Swaraj, undergoing treatment for renal failure, is not attending the HoA conference and finance minister Arun Jaitley is heading the Indian delegation at the ministerial deliberations.

Sunday will be the main day of the summit. The agenda of this international summit will include tackling the terror threat and with India and Afghanistan leading diplomatic efforts to corner Pakistan on this, the ‘Amritsar Declaration’ that will be adopted on Sunday is expected to have a strong focus on the issue of terrorism and safe havens that unfortunately still exist for terrorists. Both New Delhi and Kabul are furious over cross-border terror attacks on their respective soil by Pakistan-backed terrorists.

Mr Aziz, leading the Pakistani delegation to the meeting of the HoA, was received at the Amritsar airport by Pakistan high commissioner Abdul Basit.

Pakistan and India had held a meeting during last year’s HoA Asia Summit in Islamabad during which both countries had agreed to start ‘Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue’ that was to cover all outstanding issues.

The resumption of the dialogue could, however, not take place due to the Pathankot terror attack in January. Earlier this week, Mr Basit had said Pakistan was ready for unconditional resumption of dialogue if India was ready.

India, however, has already made it clear that it will never accept continuing cross border terrorism as the ‘new normal’ in bilateral ties with Pakistan while making it clear that talks cannot take place in an atmosphere of “continued terror”.

The tensions between the two countries escalated after the cross border terror attack on an army base in Nagrota. India will step up its drive to corner Pakistan diplomatically and is set to mobilise support for concrete action against state-sponsored terror at the two-day conference.

Afghanistan, which has also been witnessing increased attacks from terror groups operating from Pakistani soil, is set to push hard for a regional counter-terror framework with “binding” commitment during the annual Heart of Asia conference, a platform set up in 2011 to assist the war-ravaged country in its transition.