Pakistan describes top Indian diplomat's visit ice breaker

Pakistan on Thursday described as an"ice breaker" the recent visit of a top Indian diplomat to Islamabad that ended a seven-month deadlock in high level talks.

India had cancelled talks with Pakistan in August last year because Pakistani High Commissioner met Kashmiri separatist leaders in New Delhi.

Indian Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyan Jaishankar held talks with his Pakistani counterpart Aizaz Chaudhry in Islamabad on March 3 and both sides agreed to narrow down differences.

Jaishankar also called on Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and delivered a message from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam dispelled the impression in a section of the media that the visit of the Indian official has failed. "I would not like to characterize it as failure. We said that it is a visit that is taking place in lieu of the August visit as an ice breaker. It is a process," the spokesperson told her weekly briefing.

She said the meeting of the top diplomats was held in a constructive and positive atmosphere but she avoided offering more comments about the decisions.

India had earlier characterized the visit of its foreign secretary in the context of the regional group South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation or SAARC. However, it provided opportunity for both sides to deliberate on all outstanding issues including the current escalations on the border. Endi