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Pakistani foreign advisor Sartaj Aziz to visit India for Heart of Asia conference

WION
New Delhi, Delhi, IndiaUpdated: Nov 16, 2016, 12:50 PM IST
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Adviser to Pakistan's Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz, said Pakistan wants to reduce tensions across the Line of Control, the de facto border between the two countries. Photograph:(Reuters)

Sartaj Aziz, Pakistan prime minister's advisor on foreign affairs, today said that he would travel to India to attend a conference in December, asserting that his visit could be a "good opportunity" to "defuse the tension" between India and Pakistan.

The Heart of Asia conference is scheduled to be held in India's northern city of Amritsar on December 3.

Aziz would be the first senior Pakistani official to visit India since the September 18 Uri attack in Kashmir. India had blamed Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad militants for the attack and had later pulled out of the SAARC summit to be held in Pakistan in November.

"Unlike India, that had sabotaged SAARC summit in Pakistan by pulling out, Pakistan will respond by participating in the Heart of Asia being held in India," PTI reported Aziz as saying.

Pakistan's Dawn newspaper reported that Aziz also said that he will not repeat India's blunder where it boycotted the regional summit.

It has, however, not been confirmed yet whether he will meet his Indian counterpart on the sidelines of the conference.

Aziz was also reported as saying that US president-elect Donald Trump would deserve a Nobel prize if he intervenes and succeeds in resolving the Kashmir issue between India and Pakistan.

"Trump would deserve Nobel prize if he helps resolve Kashmir dispute," he said on a lighter note while responding to a question.

(WION with inputs from PTI)