Foreign Secretary Jaishankar to visit Pak on March 3

Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar will be visiting Pakistan on March 3 as part of the SAARC yatra.

Jaishankar is expected to hold talks with his Pakistani counterpart Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry and is likely to meet Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's adviser on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz.

Jaishankar's visit to Pakistan will take place almost seven months after India cancelled the Foreign Secretary-level talks between the two sides.

India called off the Foreign Secretary-level bilateral talks earlier in August this year after the Pakistani envoy met Kashmiri separatist leaders.

The Foreign Secretary is scheduled to visit Bhutan on March 1 and Bangladesh on March 2. He will be visiting Afghanistan following his visit to Pakistan.

"The schedule for the other destinations is being worked out through diplomatic channels and will be indicated separately," said Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) official spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin in response to a question on Foreign Secretary's SAARC Yatra.

Jaishankar would be undertaking the first phase of the SAARC Yatra in accordance with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's directives.

Prime Minister Modi had spoken to his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif earlier this month to wish him for the World Cup in Australia. Thereafter, Prime Minister Modi announced that he would be sending the Foreign Secretary on a 'SAARC Yatra' to strengthen relationship with them.

"Would be sending our new Foreign Secretary on a SAARC Yatra soon to further strengthen our ties," he tweeted.