ISLAMABAD, Aug 12: With the conclusion of talks here on Thursday between officials and technical experts of the ministries of interior and commerce of Pakistan and India, the process of composite dialogue enters the final phase with meetings scheduled in New Delhi between the foreign ministers and foreign secretaries in the first week of September.
The foreign secretaries are to meet on Sept 4, and the foreign ministers on Sept 5 and 6, to undertake a comprehensive review of the outcome of the talks and discussions held so far on the eight agreed topics listed in the framework of the composite dialogue.
The issue of security, confidence-building measures and Jammu and Kashmir were discussed in the first meeting on June 27 and 28.
The foreign secretaries of the two countries must have been considering the reports from their officials who had held talks over the past two months and the two separate meetings held this week on combating terrorism and drug trafficking and commerce and trade between the two countries.
The foreign secretaries' evaluation of the talks held so far will be made available to the two foreign ministers when they meet to review the conclusions and recommendations made by the officials and experts.
The foreign ministers are also expected to hold conclusive talks and formulate their conclusions and reports and recommendations for the two governments in regard to the composite dialogue.
As already reported, President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may hold an informal meeting or meetings on the sidelines of the United Nations Annual General Assembly meeting in New York, some time towards the second or third week of September.
That may offer them an opportunity to exchange views about the future course of action for the composite dialogue. However, because of the informal nature of the talks in New York, actual decisions about the future course of action might be possible later at a formal summit meeting.
Officials appear to believe that the roadmap charted for senior bureaucrats and experts and the ministers in February this year by the two foreign secretaries, had now run its full length, but apparently without resolving the contentious issues. They will possibly wait for the signal from the top as to how to move ahead.
The general feeling in the official circles here is that the present cycle of talks does give a sense of satisfaction, although apparently no conclusive results or decisions have emerged. The two principal South Asian neighbouring states have not significantly moved ahead on the key dividing issues such as Jammu and Kashmir, security, Siachen etc.
But at the same time, these circles as well as diplomatic sources believe that the ground covered so far in the composite talks on a variety of issues and disputes, some of them as old as the history of the two countries stretched over half a century, have been able to pave the way for further movement towards the goals of peace and security.
They also recognize that it was after years of deep antagonism and even a dangerous nuclear stand-off lasting that the national leadership of India and Pakistan have courageously decided to confront the challenge. And this brave act has created a significant change in the prolonged tense atmosphere and given a sense of relief to the peoples of the two countries.
