By Muhammad Luqman
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Alice Wells will arrive in Islamabad on January 19 on a three-day visit to Pakistan, the US State Department said.
The visit by Wells will be a part of her 10-day tour of the region during which she will be travelling to Sri Lanka, India, and Pakistan, from January 13-22.
In Islamabad, she will meet senior Pakistani government officials and members of civil society to discuss issues of bilateral and regional concern.
Before arriving in Islamabad, Wells will be in Sri Lanka from January 13-14 during which she will interact with high-ranking officials.
“The US envoy will discuss a range of bilateral and regional issues, including shared interests in a free and open Indo-Pacific region that fosters prosperity, democracy, justice, and human rights,” said the statement of the State Department.
Wells will then travel to India, from January 15-18, to attend the “Raisina Dialogue”. She will also meet with senior government officials to “advance the US-India strategic global partnership” following the success of the 2019 US-India 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue, and will discuss “topics of mutual interest with members of the business community and civil society”, the State Department said.
Wells’ last visit to Islamabad in August 2019 had come a day after the Indian government had rushed through a presidential decree to abolish Article 370 of the Constitution that granted special status to Indian occupied Kashmir.
The US Department of State in its statement had said it was “closely following the events in the state of Jammu and Kashmir”.
