Indo-Pak officials discuss dates, agenda for talks
February 7, 2010
India and Pakistan Friday discussed the dates for talks between their foreign secretaries and the scope of their dialogue that could include other issues besides terrorism.
Pakistan High Commissioner to India Shahid Malik met the Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and discussed the probable dates and also the agenda for the proposed bilateral talks between the two countries.
He mentioned this after the meeting at New Delhi on Friday.
He also confirmed that terrorism would also be one of the main agendas of the talks.
“The discussions between Pakistan High Commissioner Shahid Malik and Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao lasted for 45 minutes,” said external affairs ministry spokesperson Vishnu Prakash in New Delhi.
“The talks were positive and constructive, both sides discussed issues relevant to the forthcoming foreign secretary level talks,” Prakash told reporters.
“The Pakistani side is expected to get back to us about a mutually convenient date. They will revert soon,” he said.
The talks could be broad-based and include terrorism, said sources.
India’s offer of foreign secretary-level talks has predictably raised hopes in Islamabad about a revival of the composite dialogue, with its top leadership discussing the Indian proposal. The US, too, welcomed the move, but a cautious New Delhi feels that it is premature to judge the outcome of the talks.
Rao had rang up her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir ten days ago to invite him to come to New Delhi for talks, sources said.
This will be the first meeting between the two foreign secretaries since they met in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in September last year.
Rao and Malik also discussed the scope of dialogue with India making it clear it will hold ‘discussions with an open and positive mind.’ The Pakistani side is pitching to include the issue of Kashmir in the forthcoming talks, but New Delhi wants to focus the discussions on terror at this stage.
India had frozen the composite dialogue in the wake of the attacks that it blamed on elements operating from Pakistan.
It’s the first step to test the waters, the sources said. Any decision on resuming the composite dialogue will be taken by Prime Minister Manmohan Signh himself, the sources added.
Source: thedailystar.net
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