Amid tensions, Rajnath Singh to visit Pakistan to attend SAARC Home Ministers conference

Amid ongoing tension with Pakistan over the  Pathankot attack and the Kashmir issue, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will be travelling to Pakistan to attend SAARC Interior and Home Ministers' Conference.

According to Times of India, Singh will be travelling to Islamabad on August 3, marking the first visit by a senior Indian leader to Pakistan post attack on the Indian airbase. 

"Home minister will be going to Pakistan for the two-day conference and may also have bilateral meetings with senior figures in the Nawaz Sharif government," the report said, quoting sources.

India and Pakistan are witnessing growing bitterness after Pakistan and its Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif made provocative statements on the Kashmir situation in the wake of Hizbul Mujahideen leader Burhan Wani's killing on July 8.

Not only did Sharif praise Wani but he also remarked that "Kashmir will one day become Pakistan", a comment which evoked a sharp reaction from External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who said his dream of the state becoming a part of his country "will not be realised even at the end of eternity".

Further needling India, Pakistan has demanded an independent inquiry into the 'extrajudicial' killing of  Wani and claimed that the denial of 'plebiscite' to Kashmiri people was behind the flare up in the Valley