MONITORING DESK

KARACHI: Civil leadership informed high-level officials of the army that the recent meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Indian tycoon Sajjan Jindal was a part of back-channel diplomacy, according to a BBC Urdu report.

The report said that some important official sources informed that PM Nawaz, during one of his recent meetings with Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Bajwa, had taken the latter into confidence over the Indian tycoon’s visit to Pakistan.

According to sources, Jindal came to Pakistan upon the insistence of important Indian officials, calling it an endeavour on India’s part, to reduce friction between the two neighbouring countries. Meanwhile, the report stated that COAS Bajwa also took his officials into confidence over the matter. The foreign office had declined to comment on the meeting which gained much ire from the opposition circles. The FO had said that the meeting was of private nature.