News analysis: Top Indian diplomat's visit to Pakistan raises hopes for dialogue revival

Pakistan and India have officially confirmed that a top Indian diplomat will visit Islamabad on March 3, raising optimism for the revival of stalled diplomatic talks between the two countries.

The visit of Indian Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar will be the first high-level diplomatic contact between the two nuclear neighbors in nearly seven months.

Jaishankar's visit is seen as important because it takes place at a time when relations are tense over the current cross-border firing. Both accuse each other of violating a cease-fire in 2003.

On Friday, Pakistan's army said, "Indian forces carried out unprovoked firing" along the Working Boundary in Sialkot, a border district in Punjab province. No one was hurt in the firing, an army statement said, adding that Pakistani forces "retaliated to the Indian firing in a befitting manner."

The two countries' involvement in exchange fire is seen as the major cause of diplomatic tensions that has hindered Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's initiative to maintain good relations with India and other neighbors.

Pursuing his policy, Sharif traveled to New Delhi in May last year to attend Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's oath-taking ceremony.

Pakistan's quest to "constructively engage India to establish durable peace in the region" has yet to yield results and the onus is on the leadership of the two countries to put an end to the conflict.

The government of Sharif's initiative to bridge the trust gap with Afghanistan has been successful and both countries have currently enhanced security cooperation.

Cross-border shelling between Pakistan and Afghanistan had also been an irritant in bilateral relations.

However, calm is prevailed along the nearly 2,500-km porous border. Both sides are now coordinating operations against the armed group on their respective borders in light of the growing military-to-military contacts.

Being major powers in South Asia, peaceful relations between Pakistan and India would have a positive impact on regional peace and a tension-free relationship would enable the two countries to divert resources to their citizens' welfare.

Although Jaishankar's visit is part of his trip to the member countries of the regional group, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, officials of the two countries say " bilateral issues" will also be discussed.

He will hold talks with Pakistani Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry to discuss bilateral issues, officials in Islamabad said.

"I would not like to speculate at this stage what exactly would be the agenda of the talks. However, whenever Pakistan-India dialogue resumes, we expect that all matters would be on the table for discussion," Pakistan's foreign ministry spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said on Thursday.

"We welcomed the Indian initiative," the spokesperson said at her weekly briefing, adding that the long-standing dispute over Kashmir, water issues, confidence building measures, people-to- people contacts, and trade matters will come under discussion.

In New Delhi, the Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Syed Akbaruddin, also said his country is ready to discuss all issues with Pakistan under a bilateral agreement made in the early 1970s known as the "Simla Agreement."

India canceled foreign secretaries' talks with Pakistan in August after Pakistan's High Commissioner in New Delhi met with Kashmiri separatist leaders.

India, in an angry reaction, had described the meeting as Pakistan's "continued efforts to interfere in India's internal affairs."

Pakistan has defended the meeting on the basis that it traditionally consults Kashmiri leaders ahead of talks with India.

Pakistan had been insisting that India should take the initiative to revive the process as it had unilaterally canceled the scheduled talks.

The visit of the Indian official could be the best opportunity for both countries to end the deadlock in the Composite Dialogue process, leading political observers attest. Endi