NEW DELHI, India: As leaders of Pakistan and India will be in Nepal to attend the 18th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit, a bilateral meeting between them cannot be ruled out.
However, the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to tell his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif to refrain from ‘internationalizing’ Kashmir if he meets him on the sidelines of the SAARC Summit, a report published in The Economic Times said.
The 18th SAARC Summit is being held on November 26-27 in Kathmandu, wherein leaders from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka will be present.
The report quotes official sources as saying that if a structured dialogue between Modi and Sharif takes place, the Indian premier will do some tough talking on the Kashmir issue in the backdrop of Hurriyat-Islamabad links, repeated violations along the border in Jammu and Kashmir and attempts to internationalize Kashmir through the United Nations and public rallies in Europe.
The report said that the Indian government is peeved with sudden spurt in efforts by Islamabad to internationalize the Kashmir issue at international fora.
Modi will also raise the issue of cross border terror, intrinsically linked with Kashmir if the meeting happens.
Nawaz Sharif while addressing a session of the Kashmir Council in Muzaffarabad on November 20 urged the UN and the international community to take initiative for resolution of the issue according to UN Security Council’s resolutions and the aspiration of Kashmiri people.
The Pakistani premier also expressed his concerns over the silence of the UN and the international community on the issue of Kashmir.
Sharif said that Pakistan wants to resolve the core issue of Kashmir through dialogue and called upon the international community to exert pressure on India to come to the negotiating table.
