India invites Pakistan Commerce Minister for WTO talks in March
New Delhi, Feb 26 (IBNS) : In what appears to be a significant development in the light of the soured relationship with Pakistan, India has invited the neighbouring country's Commerce Minister, Pervaiz Malik to participate in the informal WTO ministerial meeting taking place in Delhi on March 19-20, media reports said.
According to the Indian Express, Malik is said to have confirmed his attendance.
The invitation to Pakistan comes on the backdrop of the ongoing diplomatic tensions between the two countries following the Pathankot attack, release of 26-11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed, Kulbhushan Jadhav and the proxy war in Jammu and Kashmir. According to the report, however, the invitation to Malik comes after the back-channel dialogue between national security advisors of the two countries.
Quoting diplomatic sources, the report also cited that the two countries have decided to undertake an exchange of prisoners starting with the release of the most vulnerable individuals such as mentally challenged prisoners, children and women.
The invitation to Malik comes in the wake of the late-December secret back-channel negotiations between the two national security advisors, Ajit Doval and Nasser Janjua and takes place after the global Financial Action Task Force (FATF) threatened to isolate Pakistan over the weekend if it didn’t stop using terrorism as an instrument of state policy.
The reports quoted diplomatic sources from India and Pakistan as having confirmed that the two sides have decided to undertake an exchange of all their prisoners in their respective jails.
They will reportedly begin this exercise soon by releasing the “most vulnerable"- women and children and mentally disturbed prisoners, some of whom languishing behind bars for long.
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