ISLAMABAD: Foreign secretaries of Pakistan and India are expected to meet next month.

A senior official disclosed on Saturday that there was an understanding between the two sides for a meeting in February, but its dates had not been finalised.

The Jan 15 meeting, which had to decide the timetable and modalities of the resumed peace dialogue, waspostponed after a terrorist attack on an airbase in the Indian city of Pathankot.

Senior officials from both sides have been in touch with each other for rescheduling the meeting.

After a series of high-level contacts starting with an ice-breaking meeting in Paris between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counter-part Narendra Modi and climaxing with the latter`s surprise trip to Lahore, Pakistan and India had agreed last month to resume the bilateral dialogue after a hiatus of two years because of tensions along the Line of Control and Working Boundary.

The resumed dialogue was named Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue and it was agreed that the foreign secretaries of the two countries would meet on Jan 15 to decide about the timetable and modalities of the process.

India lost seven security personnel in the Pathankot strike and blamed the Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) for it. It linked the resumption of the foreign secretaries` meeting to an action by Pakistan against Jaish.

After internal deliberations, the Pakistan government initiated a crackdown on Jaish and reportedly held its leader Masood Azhar, besides shutting down several seminaries associated with the outlawed group.

It also formed a team to investigate the evidence provided by India about JeM`s alleged involvement. The crackdown that came a day before the foreign secretarles were scheduled to meet was welcomed by Delhi as `important and positive first step`, but it could not prevent the meeting`s postponement.

A statement on the deferment of the meeting, jointlyissued byIslamabad and Delhi, said: `Pakistan and India have agreed to reschedule Foreign Secretary-level talks in the very near future`.

The official said the foreign secretaries` meeting next month would prove that the terrorist act had failed to quash the momentum for normalisation of ties generated by leaderships of both countries.

Meanwhile, the plannedvisit of a team of Pakistani investigators to Pathankot has not been scheduled as yet.

`The team would first present its findings to the government, which would then decide about the visit,` a source in the interior ministry said.

Although an announcement has been made, the government is yet to approach India with a proposal for the trip, which would also give details of the terms of reference and objectives of the investigation team`s visit.

Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup had earlier this week said: `We continue to closely follow on the progress in the investigation in Pakistan on the Pathankot terrorist attack... We continue to expect robust action by Pakistan against all the perpetrators.