NEW DELHI, July 22: Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri has told an Indian news channel that New Delhi had given Pakistan rare written proposals on Kashmir just before the Mumbai blasts and he expects the foreign secretaries of the two countries to meet in Dhaka later this month.

Mr Kasuri was quoted by United News of India as telling CNN-IBN the written proposals were “an advance” and “a step forward” in the agreed process of exploring options for a settlement of the Kashmir problem. The interview is to be broadcast on Sunday.

“...We have received something from India. I think the back channels are working and I know what they are doing but I cannot speak more than what I have already said...,” Mr Kasuri said.

“They (the written proposals) are definitely an advance proposal because for the first time we have received something in writing. So it’s definitely an advance. It would be inaccurate to say whether our two positions are beginning to merge but we are talking to each other...,” Mr Kasuri was quoted by UNI as saying.

In response to a question he did not deny whether both sides were exploring options for settling the Kashmir issue.

Asked whether the Indian back channel proposals he was referring to, were a response to President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s thoughts on self-governance and joint management of divided Kashmir, Mr Kasuri said the president was (initially) disappointed but now Pakistan had got “something from India.” He did not elaborate, but said this was a step forward.

He said when the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan meet on July 31 in Dhaka for the Saarc Standing Committee, they might agree on fresh dates for the postponed India-Pakistan Foreign Secretary-level talks.

“I definitely think so and hope so. I would like that,” Mr Kasuri told CNN-IBN channel.