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ISLAMABAD, Jan 15: A Pakistani delegation headed by Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan is leaving for New Delhi on Monday for talks with India. The two-day talks that begin on Tuesday will discuss the key issue of Jammu and Kashmir and other aspects of peace and security.
The foreign secretary-level meeting will mark the beginning of the third round of the composite dialogue process aimed at confidence-building, normalization and dispute resolution.
The 11-member delegation left for Lahore on Sunday night from where it will board the plane for Delhi on Monday.
Additional secretary Asia Pacific Akhtar Tufail, additional secretary UN Tariq Osman Hyder, director-general South Asia division Syed Ibne Abbas and director-general UN-OIC and spokesperson Tasnim Aslam are among the senior officials included in the delegation.
Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India Aziz Ahmed Khan and Deputy High Commissioner Munawar Bhatti will join the foreign secretary at the talks.
Talking to Dawn on Sunday, one delegate said the team was going with an ‘open mind’.
“We hope the spirit of accommodation will prevail at the meeting to ensure some headway on unresolved issues,” the delegate observed.
While for Pakistan Kashmir will be on top of the agenda, reports from across the border indicate that for India it will be the issue of the alleged cross-border terrorism.
The two sides will also review the entire gamut of the two rounds of the composite dialogue since its resumption in 2004. More importantly, they will look at ways to ensure that the peace process remains on track.
The eight items included in the composite dialogue framework are: Siachen; Tulbul navigation project/Wullar barrage; Sir Creek; economic and commercial cooperation and friendly exchanges; terrorism and drug-trafficking; peace and security, and J&K.
Pakistan is likely to push for a forward movement on the more ‘doable and achievable’ issues such as Sir Creek and Siachen.
In the Pakistan foreign policy circles the dialogue process is seen as sluggish and there is disappointment that it has yielded no tangible progress on substantive issues.
Other issues that may figure at the talks are the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project and the reopening of the Pakistani consulate in Mumbai.
Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan and other delegates are also expected to call on the Indian prime minister and president. A meeting with Kashmiri leaders, including All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, is also likely.
Jawed Naqvi adds from New Delhi: Pakistan’s new ideas on Kashmir are likely to be taken up.
The Pakistani foreign secretary and his Indian counterpart Shyam Saran will also focus on a security dialogue that now appears to be linked with New Delhi’s dialogue with the US to transparently identify its full range of nuclear facilities.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday held ‘detailed’ talks with Sajjad Lone, who heads his assassinated father Abdul Ghani Lone’s People’s Conference on the way ahead for Kashmir.
Reports said that the Indian side was expected to make new proposals to boost people-to-people contacts, like launch of transportation links and tourism exchanges. Progress on the commencement of a truck service on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad Road and resumption of the Munabao-Khokhrapar train service will also be reviewed.
