Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa took over as new Pak army chief on Tuesday.

Simran Sodhi

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 29

Pakistan is pushing hard for a resumption of dialogue with India on the sidelines of the Heart of Asia Conference being held in Amritsar on Sunday. India has so far been noncommittal to the offer and reiterated its position that “talks and terror cannot go together”.Sartaj Aziz, Pakistan’s Foreign Affairs Adviser, will travel to the historic city on December 4 and as of now, his itinerary indicates he will return home the same day.Aziz has already indicated Pakistan is ready for talks in Amritsar and yesterday only, country’s High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit said Islamabad was ready for unconditional talks with India. Sources in the government said it would be difficult for India to initiate a dialogue with Pakistan, especially in the wake of the recent Uri terror attack.Also, the worsening situation across the Line of Control (LoC) and the international border would not give India much confidence in resuming talks. To put pressure on India, Pakistan also delayed clearances to a special flight of Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who is representing India at Fidel Castro’s funeral in Cuba.Another factor is a change of guard in the Pakistan army — Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa today took charge as the army chief from Gen Raheel Sharif. Bajwa is believed to be less of a hawk when it comes to India and also pro-democracy, factors that worked in his favour and led to his elevation.Sources in the government, however, maintain one has to “wait and watch” and see how the situation changes with Bajwa at the helm. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who is currently unwell, will skip the conference, which will see Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in attendance.NSA Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar are expected to accompany the PM to the conference on Sunday and Pakistan is hoping the presence of India’s top officials might squeeze in a bilateral to restart a dialogue.