May 20, 2008	Tuesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 14, 1429

ISLAMABAD, May 19: Pakistan and India are set to revive the stalled peace process and there are hopes that the two sides may decide to take some more confidence-building measures.

Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon arrived here on Monday night. He would be meeting his counterpart Salman Bashir on Tuesday to review the progress made during the fourth round held last year.

The round had commenced in Islamabad in March 2007 and ended in October. However, the wrap-up meetings could not be held because of political developments in Pakistan.

The meeting of foreign secretaries will also prepare the ground for a review by foreign ministers Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Parnab Mukherjee on Wednesday.

“The review meetings will help the two sides to assess the progress made in the fourth round of composite dialogue process … and deliberate on how to address outstanding issues in a more meaningful way,” Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Sadiq said.

A diplomat aware of preparations being made for the dialogue said there was a lot of optimism on the Pakistani side and “vibes coming from India are equally positive”.

Sources said the overall trend during the fourth round of talks had been positive despite being held up by political activities in both countries.

Although some progress has been made on prisoners’ exchange, little headway is expected on proposals for a visa-free regime. However, efforts will be made to liberalise what is considered to be one of the most oppressive visa regimes in the world.

One official said that there had been a lot of progress on the Sir Creek issue but “nothing has been finalised yet”.

President Musharraf has welcomed the resumption of the composite dialogue process and expressed the hope that the talks will lead to some positive outcome on the outstanding issues.