New Delhi, Jan 1 (IANS): India and Pakistan on Monday exchanged, through diplomatic channels simultaneously at New Delhi and Islamabad, a list of their nuclear installations and facilities for the 27th consecutive year, a statement said.
The exchange was done under the Agreement on the Prohibition of Attack against Nuclear Installations between India and Pakistan, according to a Ministry of External Affairs statement.
The Agreement, which was signed on December 31, 1988, entered into force on January 27, 1991. It provides, inter alia, that the two countries inform each other of nuclear installations and facilities to be covered under the Agreement on the first of January of every calendar year.
The first such exchange took place on January 1, 1992.
Indian, Pakistani NSAs met in Thailand on Dec 27
Islamabad: A meeting between Pakistan's National Security Advisor Lt Gen Nasser Khan Janjua (retd) and India's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval took place on December 27 in Thailand, a media report said.
According to 'Dawn' online, this was confirmed to the daily by a senior National Security Division official.
During the meeting, Janjua raised the issue of targeting of civilians along the Line of Control while Doval spoke of infiltration.
"The meeting was good. Mr Doval's tone and tenor was friendly and positive," the source who had been briefed about the meeting told Dawn.
According to the Pakistani official, the context of the meeting was important as it came after Islamabad allowed death row convict and suspected Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav to meet his family members. However, India and Pakistan later got into a diplomatic spat over the treatment of the wife and mother of Jadhav and the way the meeting was conducted by the Pakistani side.
"But when seen together, it becomes clear that both sides are secretly working to mend fences," the daily said.
Both sides had also agreed to keep the meeting secret, but once reports about it began appearing in Indian media, Pakistani officials started sharing details about the interaction.
Pakistani officials are of the view that the meeting was useful and it might help in restarting some sort of engagement at the diplomatic level.
Gen Janjua had on Thursday met with former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif at his Jati Umra residence in Raiwind, which lasted five hours, and included discussions on matters of national security, relations with Pakistan's neighbouring countries and terrorism.
'Dawn' had cited a PML-N leader quoting Sharif as saying at the meeting: "There is a dire need to improve ties with the neighbouring countries."