Meeting with Jindal was part of back-channel diplomacy: Sharif told Army

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had told Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa that his meeting with Indian business tycoon Sajjan Jindal was part of back-channel diplomacy moves with India, a media report said.

According to BBC Urdu, Sharif had taken Gen Bajwa into confidence on his April 28 meeting with Jindal, that fuelled intense speculation in Pakistan.

The report said, citing sources, that the civil leadership informed the military authorities that Sharif's meeting with an Indian business tycoon, who is known to be close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was part of back-channel diplomacy.

The sources said that the Indian businessman had the backing of some important Indian officials for his meeting with the Prime Minister to "defuse the ongoing tension" between the two neighbours.

The military leadership also took its officials into confidence on the meeting, BBC said.

The only detail of the meeting that Sharif shared with his aides was that Jindal was "making efforts to defuse tension between India and Pakistan", the source said.

Sharif and JSW Group Chairperson Sajjan Jindal met in the hill station Murree, about 45 km from Islamabad.

The Foreign Office had termed the meeting "personal" and refused to comment on it.

--IANS

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