Amid speculation that Prime Minister Narendra Modi may meet his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on the sidelines of the SAARC Summit, former union minister and Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Monday said it is for the government to take a final call on the issue, but added that there has to be a lot of preparation, agenda and clarity for a bilateral meeting between any two leaders.
"The fact is this is a multi-lateral meeting. There are nine world leaders present from the region, they can meet each other in the context of a multi-lateral meeting. But for a bilateral meeting between any two leaders, there has to be a lot of preparation, there has to be an agenda, there has to be clarity," Tharoor told the media here. "And whenever an Indian and a Pakistani leader meet, there is obviously a signal that is sent in the process. And the government will have to decide, it is not for me to suggest one way or the other. The government will have to decide whether they are ready to send such a signal that is up to them," he added.
Tharoor further said the bilateral meetings have a different context and that context has to be explored very thoroughly and very thoroughly prepared. Earlier on Sunday, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) official spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin did not rule out the possibility of a meeting between Prime Minister Modi and Sharif as he said that India is for "cooperative and peaceful ties" with Pakistan.
Akbaruddin said Prime Minister Modi is keen 'to have meaningful dialogues with as many south Asian colleagues as possible'. "This would mean taking into account all aspects of relationships," he added. The Indian Government had earlier in August cancelled the Foreign Secretary-level talks after Pakistan's High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit held talks with Kashmiri separatists ahead of the proposed meeting.
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