No plans for Modi-Sharif meeting on sidelines of UNGA: Pakistan

Pakistan on Thursday said that it has neither sought any meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session nor received any request in this regard.

"We have not sought a meeting and we have not received any request," said Foreign Office spokesperson Tasneem Aslam when asked if there is any possibility of a meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the UNGA session in New York.

The Foreign Office spokesperson said that Islamabad wants to resolve all issues with New Delhi through dialogue.

"When the new government took over in India, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was invited to the oath taking ceremony, along with the leaders from other SAARC countries. Prime Minister attended that ceremony. The subsequent meeting between the two Prime Ministers was positive. It was decided that the two Foreign Secretaries would meet and resume the dialogue process," Aslam said.

"You would recall that the meeting between the Foreign Secretaries was also announced but it was then abruptly cancelled by the Indian side on the pretext that Pakistani High Commissioner in New Delhi had met with the Kashmiri Hurriyat leaders. We had tried to avail the opportunity. We want to focus on the disputes between the two countries, including the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir so that a peaceful solution could be found through dialogue. Our efforts are not lacking in any way," she added when asked there were very high hopes that the relationship between Pakistan and India would improve after Narendra Modi became the Indian Prime Minister.