Pakistan on Thursday said there will be no meeting with India on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Russia.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is currently in the Russian city of Sochi for the SCO Head of Governments meeting and Foreign Office (FO) spokesman Mohammad Faisal was asked at regular briefing about any meeting between the leaders of the two countries.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will represent India at the two-day summit.
“There is no planned meeting on the sidelines of the Summit,” Mr. Faisal said.
To a question about the decision on India’s request to let the mother of convicted Indian death row prisoner Kulbhushan Jadhav in Pakistan meet him, Mr. Faisal said it was still being “considered”.
He also said that Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua on Wednesday went to the Anti-Terrorist Court (ATC) hearing of 2008 Mumbai attack case and “informed the court that the decision of the court to convey the names of the Indian witnesses required for testifying in this case was being considered by the Interior Ministry”.
He said Pakistan continues to stress the need for a meaningful dialogue for confidence building, avoidance of arms race and promotion of strategic stability in South Asia and Pakistan’s proposal for a Strategic Restraint Regime for South Asia remains on the table.
He expressed concern over the latest launch of the cruise missile by India and said it was part of the ongoing build-up and induction of sophisticated weaponry and delivery systems by India.
India recently test fired the Brahmos supersonic cruise missile for the first time from the Indian Air Force’s frontline Sukhoi-30 MKI combat jet, significantly bolstering the country’s aerial prowess.
