Foreign secretary talks only after Pak makes progress in Pathankot probe

Sushma Swaraj is expected to meet Sartaj Aziz on the sidelines of the SAARC ministerial meeting in Pokhra.

Exchanging courtesies was inevitable for the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan, who were both attending the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) dinner in Nepal on Tuesday night, but a formal meet between the two officials over the January 2016 Pathankot attack has been ruled out.

According to top official sources, the foreign secretaries will meet only after the Special Investigation Team (SIT) from Pakistan arrives in India and makes concrete progress in the probe.

Sources however also said that India’s Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and his Pakistani counterpart Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry would hold an informal chat during closed-door SAARC sessions.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is expected to meet Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz on the sidelines of the SAARC ministerial meeting in Pokhara, Nepal, where she will reportedly raise the Pathankot terror attack.

Meanwhile, the 37th session of SAARC council of Ministers meet in Pokhra is yet again focused on India and Pakistan.

Foreign secretaries of both countries have met many times so far, but no structured discussions have taken place.

They met at the SAARC foreign secretaries dinner on Tuesday and according to sources, the two only had an informal chat on the ongoing T20 cricket series and other less vexing issues. They had a very brief informal tete-a tete at breakfast on Wednesday morning.

All eyes are on the meeting between Sushma Swaraj and Sartaj Aziz that could take place either this evening on the sidelines of the SAARC Foreign Ministers dinner or after the SAARC sessions.