Top Indian diplomat holds talks in Islamabad

Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry (right) shakes hands with his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar before their meeting at the Foreign Ministry in Islamabad.

AFP/Islamabad

A top Indian diplomat arrived in Pakistan on Tuesday for the first high-level visit since perennially fraught ties between the two neighbours soured further last year.

Indian Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar held talks with his counterpart Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry, an official in the Pakistani foreign office said. He will also meet the de-facto foreign minister Sartaj Aziz, according to Pakistani state media.

Chaudhry and Jaishankar shook hands and posed briefly for photographs as they met at the foreign office in Islamabad before going in for a closed-door meeting, an AFP photographer said.

The trip is part of a regional tour that also includes Bhutan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, but state media said specific bilateral issues would also be on the agenda.

Pakistan and India have traded blame for an upsurge in Kashmir firing and shelling which started in October.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi abruptly cancelled talks between the foreign secretaries of the neighbours in August last year.

Relations have soured over increased firing along their borders and India halting the talks, enraged that Pakistan consulted Kashmiri separatist leaders before the dialogue began.

The dates for Jaishankar's trip were announced in late February, when Modi phoned his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif to wish his cricket team luck in the World Cup.