ISLAMABAD, March 13: The second round of broad-based Pakistan-US dialogue which was supposed to be held here this month has been postponed again, diplomatic sources told Dawn on Tuesday.

This is the second time that the strategic dialogue, aimed at building a long-term and sustainable partnership between the two countries, has been deferred.

Once again, the request for postponement has come from the US side and preoccupation of US Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns with some other matter has again been cited as the reason, according to sources.

Under-Secretary Burns was to lead the US delegation.

Pakistan’s ambassador to the US Mehmud Durrani, who was here for the Pakistani envoys’ meeting and was to stay on for the strategic dialogue, left for Washington on Tuesday morning.

Last week, the Foreign Office spokesperson had told a weekly news briefing that the dialogue would probably take place later this month. However, when she was asked about it again on Monday, she said there were no confirmed dates yet.

The Americans have been dragging their feet on the next round of the strategic dialogue. Initially, the meeting was scheduled for November 6, 2006 but it could not take place due to some ‘pressing engagement’ of Under-Secretary Burns.

Just a week before the meeting, the Foreign Office spokesperson announced that it had been postponed only for a scheduling problem and that it would take place at a later date. The word of caution was: not to read too much into it.

The inaugural meeting of the Pakistan-US strategic dialogue was held in Washington in April 2006 and co-chaired by Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan and Under-Secretary Burns.

The decision to launch the strategic dialogue under Pakistan-US strategic partnership was taken during the Musharraf-Bush summit talks in Islamabad on March 4, 2006.

The postponement of the second round of the strategic dialogue comes at a time when Pakistan-US relations have been in high strain with pointed questions being raised at both ends about the ongoing counter-terrorism cooperation.—Q.A