NEW DELHI, April 21: India and Pakistan will hold expert level talks on nuclear confidence building measures on May 25 and 26, an Indian foreign ministry statement said on Wednesday. There was no comment on the venue for the talks and Pakistani officials said this would be decided in due course.

The Indian statement said: "Pursuant to the meeting of Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan on Feb 18, 2004, Pakistan had proposed to us the dates of May 25-26 for expert-level talks on nuclear CBMs, and June 15-16 for a meeting of the Committee on Drug Trafficking and Smuggling. We have today conveyed our acceptance of these dates."

Qudssia Akhlaque adds from Islamabad: New Delhi's acceptance of Islamabad's proposal was conveyed to the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Wednesday morning.

"Today a senior foreign secretary of the Ministry of External Affairs informed the Pakistani High Commissioner in New Delhi of his government's decision in this regard," a senior Foreign Ministry official told Dawn.

Welcoming the confirmation from New Delhi, the official said: "We are happy that the dialogue process is moving forward and the roadmap worked out between the foreign secretaries of Pakistan and India on February 18 is being pursued."

Under the roadmap, the secretaries of the two countries are to meet in May-June and foreign ministers in July-August. The venue for the talks on nuclear Confidence-building Measures will be New Delhi while for the drug-trafficking talks, it will be Islamabad.

Meanwhile, new dates for the twice-postponed technical-level talks on Muzzaffarabad-Srinagar bus service are still being worked out through diplomatic channels. Pakistan in principle supports the Indian proposal for establishment of a road link between Muzzaffarabad and Srinagar.

"Pakistan wants the Kashmir bus talks to start at the earliest possible as it is keen to facilitate travel of people and divided families on both sides of Kashmir," government sources maintain.