25 June 2004	Friday	06 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

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ISLAMABAD, June 24: Pakistan will send a nine-member delegation to India for the first round of secretary-level talks on peace, security and the Kashmir issue, due to begin on Sunday.

The delegation will leave for New Delhi from Lahore on Saturday for the two-day talks.of peace and security, including the nuclear dimension, officials said.

They said the two sides would discuss the reports and recommendations submitted by their experts after their first talks on nuclear confidence-building measures in New Delhi last week.

There would also be comprehensive discussions on all aspects of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, the officials maintained. The foreign secretary on Thursday briefed a group of Kashmiri leaders at the Foreign Office on the talks.

The meeting presided over by Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri was also attended by the president and the prime minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. "The foreign secretary assured the Kashmiri leaders that Pakistan would remain firm on its principled position on Kashmir, which remains the core issue between Pakistan and India," the Foreign Office spokesman said after the meeting.

He said the Kashmiri leaders were told that a quest for the solution to the problem was the key to a result-oriented peace process, a sustainable rapprochement and a peaceful neighbourhood.

"It was also emphasized that there was no question of reneging on our commitment to the Kashmiri people about the just solution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute," he added.

The Kashmiri leaders expressed full support to the peace process and emphasized the need for "meaningful and result-oriented talks" to seek a just solution to the dispute in accordance with their aspirations.

Details of the delegation have been communicated to India through diplomatic channels. The delegation, to be led by Foreign Secretary Riaz Khokhar, comprises foreign ministry officials, including Additional Secretary Asia Pacific Salman Bashir, Director-General South Asia Jalil Abbas Jilani, Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan, Director Foreign Secretary's Office Tehmina Janjua and directors and deputy directors of India and Kashmir affairs divisions.

It will be the first contact between the secretaries of the two countries after the change of government in India and the first dialogue at the level in six years.

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