ISLAMABAD, July 9 Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi gave a guarded assessment of the process of resumption of dialogue with India and said “the optimistic side of these talks is that India has realised that engagement in dialogue is in its own interest of peaceful co-existence between the two countries”.

Briefing the parliamentary committee on national security on his forthcoming talks with the Indian foreign minister scheduled for July 15, Mr Qureshi said Pakistan would hold the dialogue with a positive and constructive attitude in order to resolve all bilateral issues, including the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.

The committee's chairman Senator Mian Raza Rabbani told Dawn that the foreign minister's briefing refle- cted the eight-point recommendations of the members forwarded to the Foreign Office.

The minister informed the committee about talks held recently between the foreign secretaries of the two countries and said they were of exploratory nature primarily meant to prepare for the July 15 meeting.

The talks, he said, had helped improve the atmosphere and laid the ground for the ministerial meeting.

Answering a question, Mr Rabbani said the committee had not yet discussed proposals for changes in the national security policy, adding that it would be taken up briefings by the ministries of interior and defence early next month.

He reiterated the committee's stand that at a time when the United States and Afghanistan were mulling drastic changes in their war on terror policy, Pakistan should also review its security strategy for the sake of peace and stability of the region.