Jaishankar successfully completes first phase of PM's Saarc Yatra

He also met Pak PM, Nawaz Sharif and had handed him over a letter written by Modi

India's foreign secretary S Jaishankar, has completed the first phase of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Saarc Yatra' initiative successfully, which also witnessed resumption of a much-needed dialogue between India and Pakistan. 

In the phase of the visit that started on March 1, Jaishankar visited Bhutan, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Apart from the discussions on Saarc, bilateral issues were also taken up with each of these countries as a follow up to Prime Minister Modi's vision of 'neighbours first', which defines the NDA government's foreign policy.  

The most significant outcome of the visit has been the thawing of ties with Pakistan. This was yet another bold step taken by the BJP-led government after PM Modi invited all Saarc leaders to attend his swearing-in ceremony that resulted in a comprehensive meeting between Modi and Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. 

In this visit, the foreign secretary raised all pertinent issues with Pakistan, including the ongoing ceasefire violations on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC), cross border terrorism and speedy trial of 2008 Mumbai carnage. On the other hand, Pakistan took up matters related to the dispute on Kashmir, Sir Creek and Siachen. Both sides also discussed ways to increase tourism and people to people contacts. 

"The talks happened in a positive atmosphere and we were able to narrow the differences," the foreign secretary was quoted as saying after having wide-ranging meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhary in Islamabad. 

Jaishankar also met Sharif and had handed him over a letter written by Modi. He even met Sartaj Aziz, Sharif’s advisor on foreign affairs and national security and Tariq Fatemi, special assistant to the Paksitani PM. 

This meeting happened seven months after India cancelled foreign secretary-level talks with Pakistan for meeting Kashmiri separatists. Incidentally, in a briefing to the media there in Islamabad after meeting Jaishankar on Tuesday, Chaudhary had stated that Pakistan will continue to with the Hurriyat leaders. 

"We have been meeting the Kashmiri leaders for a long time now. We will continue to meet them," he had stated. 

In Afghanistan, Jaishankar met the newly elected Afghan president Ashraf Ghani and their CEO Abdullah Abdullah. 

Saarc or the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, the Maldives, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. The government has decided that under this SAARC Yatra it will ensure faster implementation of the measures and reforms as envisioned in the last Saarc Summit in Kathmandu. 

Now the foreign secretary will be headed to Sri Lanka on March 6 - 7. He will be also accompanying external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj.