NEW DELHI, May 2: Indian and Pakistani officials scanned options on Tuesday to enable trade and greater civilian contact between the divided Jammu and Kashmir regions amid hopes that official commerce could start within two to three months, sources said.
Meetings are likely to be proposed between the chambers of commerce of the divided region.
A seven-member delegation from Pakistan led by Syed Ibne Abbas, head of the foreign ministry’s South Asia desk, began two days of talks with an Indian team led by Dilip Sinha, chief of the Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran (PAI) desk.
The talks covered the arrangements for the operationalisation of the truck service for trade on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad route, the commencement of a bus service between Poonch and Rawalakot and the opening of the two meeting points on the Line of Control (LOC).
A joint statement after the conclusion of the talks on Wednesday is likely to set the date for the Rawalakot-Poonch bus service and a time-frame for the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad commercial traffic.
“We are yet to refine the modalities of the trade service which can begin in two or three months,” a source close to the talks told Dawn.
