NEW DELHI  (TIP): Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar will soon visit Pakistan in what will mark the first official high-level contact between the two countries since Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif visited India last year for his counterpart Narendra Modi‘s oath-taking.

The decision to send Jaishankar to Pakistan though is another South Asia outreach by PM Narendra Modi which will see India’s top diplomat visiting all SAARC countries. Sources said they didn’t want to speculate about dates for Jaishankar’s visit to Pakistan. Modi himself informed his counterpart Nawaz Sharif about the decision to resume foreign secretary level dialogue with Pakistan. India had last year scheduled the same dialogue with Pakistan in August last year but cancelled it at the last moment after Pakistan high commissioner chose to meet Hurriyat leaders.

Islamabad has maintained all along since then that India would have to take the initiative for any resumption of dialogue between the two countries.