ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI: Two months after their prime ministers agreed on a meeting of the foreign secretaries to revive the stalled peace process, Pakistan and India on Wednesday finally set a date for the talks.

The foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan would meet on August 25 in Islamabad.

The announcement was simultaneously made by the Pakistan’s Foreign Office and Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) after an about 30-minute long telephonic conversation between the two foreign secretaries.

It was the most important contact between the two secretaries since their prime ministers met in Delhi on May 27.

“Indian Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh spoke to Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry over the telephone this afternoon. During the conversation, it was agreed that the two foreign secretaries would meet in Islamabad on Aug 25 to carry forward the dialogue process,” the Foreign Office said.

In Delhi, MEA spokesman Syed Akbaruddin told a media briefing: “The two foreign secretaries had a telephonic discussion and ... they discussed how they should move forward. And based on that telephonic conversation, they agreed that they will meet in Islamabad on August 25.”

The incidents-prone Pakistan-India dialogue process, which had a number of starts and stops, was last time suspended in January 2013 following ceasefire violations along the Line of Control (LoC).

The Foreign Office said the date for the secretaries’ meeting had been fixed “in keeping with the vision of the two prime ministers to improve and establish good neighbourly relations”.

While the talks would kick-start the dialogue process, it is expected that the Aug 25 meeting will also lay the groundwork for the next possible meeting of Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Nawaz Sharif on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

Ironically, the dialogue process which remained suspended due to serious ceasefire violations along the LoC is set to resume in the shadows of renewed clashes along the de-facto border between the two neighbours. Casualties have been reported from both sides in the latest ceasefire violations along the Working Boundary. Pakistan has been blaming India for the hostilities.

According to the Indian MEA spokesman, Foreign Secretary Ms Singh raised the matter during her conversation with Mr Chaudhry.

“Since there have been incidents of firing along the international boundary, Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh used the opportunity to raise these issues,” he said.

Ms Singh feared that “incidents of this nature will impede the positive work that the political leaders of both countries wish to undertake” and reiterated that “meaningful cooperation between our two countries cannot take place alongside violence and the sounds of bullets on the border”. The “maintenance of peace and tranquillity on the LoC is one of the most important CBMs” for both sides, she added.

Published in Dawn, July 24th, 2014