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Modi likely to meet Sharif during SCO summit

Last Updated 06 July 2015, 20:14 IST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to meet his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif at Ufa in Russia next Thursday or Friday, notwithstanding yet another violation of ceasefire.

Both New Delhi and Islamabad hinted at the possibility of Modi-Sharif meeting on the sideline of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s summit at Ufa. India is preparing to use the prime minister’s visit to Russia and five Central Asian nations to drive home the point that religious extremism and terrorism emanating from Pakistan and role of the neighbouring nation’s state and non-state actors poses serious threat not only to India, but also to other nations in the region, including Afghanistan.

Modi on Monday commenced his tour to Central Asia with a visit to Uzbekistan. He will visit Kazakhstan on Tuesday before reaching Ufa on Wednesday. He will take part in the summits of the BRICS (a bloc comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and SCO in Ufa before flying to Turkmenistan on Friday. He will also visit Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan from July 11 to 13 before returning to New Delhi.

India and Pakistan are at present ‘observers’ in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and the bloc is set to declare the launch of the procedure for formally admitting both the nations as members. Though Pakistan is not a member of the BRICS, Sharif has been invited by Russian President Vladimir Putin to join leaders of other SCO members and observers for a meeting with their counterparts of the five-nation bloc on Thursday. Sharif will also take part in the SCO summit on Friday.

“The Prime Minister (Sharif) will also hold important bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the SCO Summit,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan government said on Monday. Though it did not officially specify if Sharif would meet Modi in Ufa, sources in New Delhi told Deccan Herald that diplomats of both India and Pakistan were in touch to schedule the meeting between the two leaders.

Indian officials, however, said that even if Modi had a meeting with Sharif at Ufa, it  might not be construed as restart of formal parleys between the two neighbours.  
Modi is likely to tell Sharif that New Delhi cannot restart structured dialogue with Islamabad unless India’s concerns over terrorism emanating from territories under control of Pakistan are addressed and all the plotters of the November 26/11 attacks are brought to justice.

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(Published 06 July 2015, 20:14 IST)

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