Pakistan describes Jaishankar's visit as ice breaker

Pakistan on Thursday described as an "ice breaker" the visit of Indian Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar to Islamabad that ended a seven-month deadlock in high level talks.

India had cancelled talks with Pakistan in August last year because the Pakistani high commissioner met Kashmiri separatist leaders in New Delhi.

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 the latter's Indian counterpart 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 characterise 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," Xinhua news agency quoted the spokesperson as saying in 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 taken there.