ISLAMABAD, Dec 13: Pakistan and India begin the second round of expert-level talks on nuclear confidence-building measures here on Tuesday amid hopes of progress on a proposed agreement on advance notification of missile tests
and dedicated hotlines between the foreign secretaries of the two countries. The first meeting was held in New Delhi on June 19 and 20.
A five-member Indian delegation headed by Meera Shankar, Additional Secretary (International Organizations) at the Indian External Affairs Ministry, arrived here on Monday night for the two-day talks. The meeting will be followed by the first round of expert-level talks on conventional issues.
The Pakistani delegation will be led by Tariq Osman Hyder, Additional Secretary (UN& EC), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and will include Foreign Ministry's Director-General (South Asia) Jalil Abbas Jilani, Director-General (disarmament) Nazir Ahmed, Strategic Plans Division's Additional Director (arms control affairs) Khalid Banuri and a representative of the GHQ, Brig Wahid Arshad.
In his weekly press briefing on Monday, Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan said that the nuclear talks were aimed at reducing the risk of accidental war and promoting strategic stability.
"The two sides will discuss proposals on nuclear CBMs, including the draft agreement on pre-notification of flight-testing of missiles," he said, expressing the hope that the two sides would build on the momentum of the June round of talks.
The spokesman asserted that as nuclear-armed neighbours, Pakistan and India needed to have an effective and reliable channel of communication to ensure there was no accidental or unauthorized launch.
In this context, he referred to the general framework of talks which includes strategic stability, crisis management, confidence-building and risk reduction. The Indian delegation will also call on Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri.
Sources said the two sides were likely to finalize an agreement on missile notification which would then be signed by the foreign secretaries at a meeting later this month. Diplomats and defence officials say if the agreement is finalized it would be a good confidence-building measure.
"It would be a very useful measure and avert apprehensions particularly when relations between the two countries get tense," says a defence official. The up gradation of hotline between the DGMOs of the two countries is also expected to figure in the talks as are discussions on the strategic restraint regime concept that has been doing the rounds since 2001.
The possibility of establishing a hotline between the two national command authorities could also be explored, the sources indicated. "Talks on nuclear CBMs will essentially be a reiteration of the 1999 MoU signed during former Indian prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's visit to Lahore," a senior official maintained.
The Lahore MoU covered both nuclear and missile regimes including advanced notification of ballistic missile testing.
