Iran [Tehran], April 17: Pakistan's Foreign Ministry on Thursday confirmed that the United States and Iran were in discussions - through Islamabad - to hold a second meeting between their negotiators to end their now nearly seven-week war, with a fragile ceasefire announced on April 8 days away from expiring.
But it added that no date had been set for that next round of negotiations, even as Islamabad stepped up a parallel diplomatic push to keep the process alive. "Who will come, how big the delegation will be, who will stay, and who will go is for the parties to decide," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi told reporters in Islamabad, referring to what upcoming talks might look like.
"As a mediator, it's important for us to keep the talks confidential. We had the details and information of the talks entrusted to us by the negotiating parties." Speaking of the first round of talks on April 12 in Islamabad, which concluded without a deal, Andrabi said: "There was neither a breakthrough nor a breakdown."The spokesperson confirmed that nuclear issues remained among the key subjects under discussion, but declined to elaborate.
His comments came as Pakistan's civil and military leadership is travelling across the region in what some observers have begun calling the "Islamabad Process", reflecting the government's attempt to frame negotiations as an ongoing diplomatic effort rather than a one-off engagement. Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif arrived in Doha on Thursday, the second stop of a four-day regional tour that began with Jeddah on Wednesday, and will see him visiting Antalya next.
Meanwhile, Pakistan's Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) Asim Munir arrived in Tehran on Wednesday with a delegation that included Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi.
Source: Qatar Tribune
