Pak. NSA says he will visit India for talks

Islamabad (Agency) :  Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's National Security Advisor (NSA) Sartaj Aziz on Thursday said he would visit India on August 23 for talks with his counterpart Ajit Doval.“Yes, I can confirm it that I will be going to India on [August] 23rd for talks,” he told reporters.However, the Ministry of External Affairs is yet to confirm Mr. Aziz's visit to India.Pakistani officials said the decision to attend the meeting was taken after the final nod from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.The decision to hold NSA-level talks was taken when the Prime Ministers of



the two countries met in Ufa, Russia last month on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit.The talks between NSAs of the two countries come in the backdrop of simmering tensions following terror attacks in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir.There have been 19 ceasefire violations along the border in July in which four persons, including three Indian soldiers, were killed.The two countries had exchanged a war of words over a “spy drone" which Pakistan alleged was being used by India for aerial photography near the Line of Control (LoC), a claim dismissed by New Delhi.