By IANS,
New Delhi : The foreign ministers of India and Pakistan are likely to talk over telephone Tuesday to set dates for their meeting before Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna leaves for a three-day visit to Kazakhstan Tuesday, an official said.
“Both prime ministers have asked their foreign ministers and foreign secretaries to meet as soon as possible,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Vishnu Prakash told reporters here Monday.
Prakash added that the two sides are trying to find “a mutually convenient time slot to have telephonic conversation” between their foreign ministers.
Sources, however, said the telephonic conversation is likely to happen before Krishna leaves for Kazakhstan Tuesday afternoon.
“In all probability, it will happen Tuesday,” a highly-placed source told IANS.
The two ministers were supposed to talk Friday. Krishna had told the Rajya Sabha Thursday that he will be talking to “his counterpart in Pakistan tomorrow (Friday)”.
However, the call could not take place as Qureshi was busy with other engagements.
During their telephonic conversation, Krishna is expected to invite Qureshi to India for talks, sources said. “Dates are being looked at. It could happen towards the end of the month.”
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousaf Raza Gilani, after talks in Thimphu April 29, directed their foreign ministers and foreign secretaries to meet and work out modalities of restoring trust between the two countries.
India suspended the composite dialogue with Pakistan after the 26/11 Mumbai carnage in which several Pakistani nationals were involved.