Can Amritsar prove to be a melting pot of Indo-Pak talks?

It is becoming increasingly likely that Amritsar might just prove to be the next city after Ufa where India and Pakistan will break the logjam and resume the stalled peace dialogue even as Sartaj Aziz, Pakistan’s defacto Foreign Minister advanced his arrival in India by a day.

Aziz, who was expected to land in Amritsar on Sunday morning, changed his plans at the last moment and instead landed here late Saturday evening to attend the Sixth Ministerial Conference of the Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process.

Immediately after landing in India, Aziz sent a bouquet to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj wishing her speedy recovery. Swaraj, who is undergoing kidney treatment, could not attend the conference.

The reason that was given for this last-minute change of plan was due to weather conditions. But in reality it seemed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was keen to have Aziz during the dinner meeting hosted by him for all the participating delegates, according to sources.

"There could be a surprise (meeting) ... Amritsar might witness some ice-breaking moment," a top official told BusinessLine .

Meanwhile, the main protagonist of the Conference, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani also landed late in the evening to attend the dinner. He will be officially inaugurating the conference jointly with PM Modi on Sunday morning.

Sources also did not rule out the possibility of a bilateral meeting between Aziz and Modi on the sidelines of the conference. During the day it also became clearer that Pakistan will not make an official request for talks and the bilateral meeting will be made to appear ad libitum.

Pakistan Foreign Ministry has already said in no uncertain terms that it will rake-up the Kashmir issue and the alleged human rights violations committed by India during the meeting even if it is not given an opportunity for a bilateral dialogue.

The Pakistani government has also reiterated that it remains open for a dialogue between the two while India’s stance has been that terror and talks cannot go hand in hand.

The Ministry of External Affairs has said that in order for the talks to take place, the guns have to fall silent at the border.

Ever since the Air Force base in Pathankot was attacked by terrorists in the wee hours of January 2, there had been a sharp decline in the level of engagement between neighbours, even derailing the Foreign Secretary-level talks that were supposed to revive the comprehensive bilateral dialogue (CBD) between the two.

On Sunday when Modi formally inaugurates the conference along with President Ghani and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, both leaders are expected to make some strong statements on cross-border terrorism and how it is emanating from the South Asian region.

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