PM Sharif, Modi wave at each other at United Nations peacekeeping summit

Nawaz Sharif walked into the conference hall and waved at Modi – who waved back and smiled. But there were questions whether the two leaders will have a meeting or at least shake hands.

On this occasion, he also had informal exchange of views with leaders of other countries.

But Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s U.S diary did not do badly. Modi pointed out that Indian soldiers had been working on peacekeeping missions since World War II during which it lost more than 24000 troops and almost half of that went missing.

Addressing a high-level roundtable on South-South Cooperation jointly hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, he said the economic corridor is an inspiring model of South-South cooperation. The August 24 talks between Sartaj Aziz and his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval were cancelled after Pakistani high commissioner Abdul Basit invited Kashmiri separatists to a tea reception. But a chill overtook the ties when the scheduled National Security Advisor-level talks between the two countries got scuttled last month after Pakistan insisted on raising the Kashmir issue and meeting the leaders of Hurriyat. Nawaz conveyed his concerns to the United States, regarding the Indian ceasefire violations on the LoC and reiterated Pakistan’s stance that it desires a peaceful resolution of all the outstanding issues through dialogue.

Previously, both met in Ufa, Russia, in July on the sideline of the BRICS and SCO summits. Both leaders are in New York to attend the 70th UN General Assembly session. He said further strengthening of institutional support from the UN System would help maximize the impact of South-South co-operation, as such an approach would help sustain development efforts and ensure enhanced participation of developing countries in the global economy, in conformity with the new Agenda.

He said Pakistan would continue to provide the United Nations its best military commanders and staff officers, and contribute “highly professional peacekeeping personnel, from infantry to guard units”. “Secretary Kerry specifically said that he recognises the significant efforts that Pakistan has made against terrorism”. “You can’t have a few countries talking of good and bad terrorists”, Mr Swarup had told the media.

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