India, Pakistan deny reports on ministers’ meeting in UAE
The announcement immediately triggered speculation about a meeting between Jaishankar and Qureshi, especially in the wake of the acknowledgement by a senior Emirati diplomat of the UAE’s role in facilitating secret talks between India and Pakistan.
External affairs minister S Jaishankar and his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi will be in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) over the weekend though both countries said on Saturday that no meeting was planned between the two leaders.
External affairs minister S Jaishankar will visit Abu Dhabi on April 18 at the invitation of his UAE counterpart Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan. (TWITTER/ @DrSJaishankar.)
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Hours after Qureshi began a three-day visit to the UAE, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi announced on Twitter that Jaishankar would visit Abu Dhabi on April 18 at the invitation of his UAE counterpart Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
The announcement triggered speculation about a meeting between Jaishankar and Qureshi, especially in the wake of the acknowledgement by a senior Emirati diplomat of the UAE’s role in facilitating secret talks between India and Pakistan.
A person familiar with developments, however, said Jaishankar’s visit is “purely bilateral” and his engagements are “only with UAE dignitaries”. “He will be discussing some pressing economic and community welfare issues related to Covid-19.”
In Islamabad, Foreign Office spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said: “No such meeting is scheduled during foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s ongoing visit to the UAE.”
Rezaul Hasan Laskar is Foreign Editor with the Hindustan Times, which he joined in 2015. He began as a journalist in his hometown of Shillong in northeast India and has worked in newspapers and wire services over the years. He moved to New Delhi in 1997 and initially focused on defence, national security, Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast, while also working of foreign policy and international relations. He has been part of the media delegation accompanying PMs on foreign visits and has reported from destinations ranging from Tibet to Ukraine. Between 2007 and 2013, he was the Press Trust of India correspondent in Pakistan, one of only two Indian journalists allowed to report from the country. He extensively covered Pakistan’s domestic politics and the life of the common people, as well as the fallout of the 2008 Mumbai attacks on India-Pakistan relations and the subsequent trial in Pakistan of the suspects involved in the attack. As part of his reportage in Pakistan, he travelled the breadth of the country, from the Swat Valley to Balochistan. Reza’s first gig in journalism was writing a weekly music column, and music – especially classic rock – remains a keen interest. He is also a movie buff and a keen photographer.
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