01 June 2004	Tuesday	12 Rabi-us-Saani 1425

ISLAMABAD, May 31: Pakistan has expressed understanding for an Indian request to revise schedule for foreign secretary-level talks originally scheduled in June in the Indian capital as a follow-up to the February agreement between the two foreign secretaries on nuclear and nuclear-related confidence-building measures.

Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan told his weekly press briefing that some rescheduling in the process of peace and stability talks was natural because of the transition of government in New Delhi.

Asked to comment on press reports relating to the state of the proposed composite dialogue and relations between India and Pakistan, the spokesman advised the media to exercise patience and restraint and avoid drawing hasty conclusions and speculating on the future of relationship between the two countries.

The spokesman recalled that the exchange of public statements and telephone conversations that had taken place between the new Indian leadership and their Pakistani counterparts which, he believed, were encouraging and indicated New Delhi's willingness to uphold bilateral and international agreements and understandings reached over the period between the two sides.

The spokesman indicated that Pakistan had noticed some evolution in the Indian Congress party since it had been there in the past and believed that the new signs in the Congress leadership's thinking might be encouraging.

He said that the understanding reached in January between the top leadership of the two countries in Islamabad was to focus on the most important issues of Kashmir and peace and stability and for the present the attention was on these issues while several other issues hanging fire for a long time would also be taken up in due course under the stipulated calendar of activities decided at the foreign secretaries level.

Mr Khan, however, said he hoped that the foreign secretaries talks would be held be as soon as possible and that the two secretaries would begin negotiations on nuclear issues and related confidence-building measures which were slated to come under discussion.

Responding to a question, the spokesman said that the current military operation in South Waziristan was to eradicate terrorism from tribal areas and other parts of the country and to flush out foreign terrorists.

The forces and the local administration would pursue both tracks - talks and military measures - to achieve the objective. Questioned about speculations in foreign circles as to the actual situation about the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan in the recent tribal talks in Lawara Mandi jirga, the spokesman emphatically said that the issue was finally closed since the border between the two countries had been clearly demarcated and could be verified by the GPS (global position system).