ISLAMABAD, Nov 11: For Pakistan, Jammu and Kashmir will be the key issue at the foreign secretary-level talks with India next week with emphasis on building on convergences already achieved on this front, official sources told Dawn on Saturday.

“We are very clear that Kashmir will remain the central issue during the talks and the effort will be to build on the convergences,” a senior foreign ministry official said when asked about the likely focus of two-day discussions beginning in New Delhi on Tuesday.

A vital agreement in the area of peace and security is on the cards. The accord will be on reducing risk of nuclear accidents, it is learnt. A draft agreement on reducing risk of nuclear accidents or unauthorised use of nuclear weapons has been under discussion between the two countries since August 2005.

At the last round of expert-level talks on nuclear CBMs in Islamabad in April this year the two sides came close to reaching an understanding but due to some reservations by Pakistan it could not be firmed up.

Apparently, Pakistan has now accepted the amendment made in the draft by India.

A draft agreement on prevention of incidents at sea proposed by Pakistan at the last round to which India had agreed, will also be discussed.

Agreements on modalities of holding flag meetings between sector-level commanders at the Line of Control and speedy repatriation of inadvertent border crossers are also in the offing.

The two sides will try to narrow down differences on Sir Creek and Siachen, officials said.

The issue of prisoners, trade matters, including a trans-Kashmir truck service, re-opening of consulates in Mumbai and Karachi and visa regime would also figure in discussions.

There are strong indications from both sides that modalities of the joint anti-terror institutional mechanism that President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh decided to put in place during their Havana meeting in September would be firmed up.

Pakistan is keen to establish the mechanism because it has serious concerns about Indian-sponsored anti-Pakistan activities in Balochistan and NWFP through Afghanistan in recent years, the sources said.