Swaraj likely to travel to Pakistan next week

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is likely to travel to Pakistan next week for a multilateral meeting, a move that could break the impasse in Indo-Pak ties.
Pakistan is hosting a 14-nation ministerial-level conference on December 8 to discuss regional cooperation on Afghanistan. Swaraj has been invited but New Delhi has so far given no indication whether she will attend.
However, informed sources said here tonight that prospects of the Indian minister's visit were "fairly bright" but a final decision was likely to be announced by Friday.
The MEA Spokesperson, however, maintained that though the invitation from Pakistan has been accepted for the conference the level of participation has not been decided so far.

Swaraj's possible visit may also indicate breaking of impasse created in Indo-Pak ties after the cancellation of a meeting between the NSAs of the two countries in August amid mutual blame game.
Significantly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a brief but warm chat with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on the sidelines of climate meet in Paris last Monday after which Sharif told Pakistani media that the talks were held in a "good way, in a good environment".

"I had good discussions with the Indian Prime Minister in a good way, in a good environment and even they have expressed that we should take our issues forward. And we also have the same opinion and hope," he said.

The US also welcomed the brief meeting between Modi and Sharif in Paris.
"We always welcome these kinds of exchanges and dialogue between India and Pakistan," State Department Deputy Spokesperson Mark Toner told reporters yesterday when asked about the meeting.
To a question whether India and Pakistan can remain
isolated, Jaishankar said they shouldn't and that New Delhi has been making sincere efforts to improve ties with Pakistan.
"I cannot think of any Prime Minister of India who did not strive for better relations with Pakistan. There may be differences in nuances, pace and packaging," he said.
Last moth, Pakistan had lodged an FIR into the Pathankot terror attack case which was seen by India as a "step forward" in bringing the perpetrators of the strike to justice.

The FIR was filed against "unknown persons" though India had named Masood Azhar as mastermind of the strike.
India submitted evidence to show that the six men who opened fire at the air base came from across the border, and demanded action against the terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed led by Azhar.
Yesterday, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Foreign Affairs Advisor Sartaj Aziz said the SIT may visit India in the next few days and hoped that the Foreign Secretary-level talks will be scheduled very soon.
Pakistan last week set up a five-member Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to probe the terror attack.

Earlier, a six-member SIT was set up by the government for the initial probe into the January 2 attack based on the leads given by India.