Sushma Swaraj to raise Pathankot issue with Sartaj Aziz

Sources said India will seek "knowledge" about action taken by Pakistan against perpetrators of attack on IAF base

Sushma Swaraj Thursday meets with her Pakistani counterpart Sartaj Aziz in Pokhara, a resort town of Nepal, to raise Pathankot terror attack issue and seek information about the former's take on it.

The two are expected to meet around 2:30 pm IST, which would be the first time they come face-to-face formally after the January 2 attack on the key Indian Air Force base.

Incidentally, both Aziz and Swaraj met this morning over breakfast at the Fishtail hotel on Fewa river here ahead of the 37th SAARC Council of Ministers Meeting.

The two, who were again seated together like at the dinner last night, even went to the side and had nearly five minutes of a one-on-one conversation after the breakfast.

Today's formal meeting was sought by the Pakistani side to extend an invitation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the SAARC Summit which is being hosted by Pakistan in November.

Aziz had yesterday said he is ready to talk about all issues that will be raised by Swaraj.

Highly-placed government sources said that India will seek to gain "knowledge" about the action taken by Pakistan against the perpetrators of the deadly attack on the IAF base in Pathankot.

Asked what more steps India expects than the ones taken by Pakistan, including taking Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar into "protective custody", the officials said they have not been told anything directly and all information is coming from the media and other channels.

Today's meeting could eventually pave the way for a meeting between Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in the US later this month.

Pakistan is keen that the formal talks between the two sides begin at the earliest.

The Pakistani side is looking at fixing dates for the Foreign Secretary-level talks between the two sides, which were put off after the Pathankot attack.

Both the Ministers and their Foreign Secretaries have met informally at least five times.