ISLAMABAD, March 20: The revived Pakistan-India Joint Commission (JC) will begin its meetings here on Tuesday.

The meetings of the working groups on Environment and Science & Technology, headed by the joint secretaries of the two countries, would be held on March 21 and 22 respectively.

Announcing the meetings on Monday Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said: “It is hoped that the revival of JC after 17 long years will help in improving the Pakistan-India bilateral relations which is necessary for resolution of contentious issues including the Jammu and Kashmir dispute between the two countries.”

The spokesperson recalled that during President General Pervez Musharraf’s visit to India in April 2005, it was decided to reactivate the JC that was established in 1983 and had been dormant since 1989.

The plenary session of JC was held on Oct 4, 2005 at Islamabad and it was decided to restructure the four existing sub-commissions of JC into eight technical level working groups on Agriculture, Health, Science & Technology, Information, Education, IT & Telecommunications, Environment and Tourism.—Q.A.