ISLAMABAD, Jan 25: The sixth round of Track-II dialogue between Pakistan and India will begin in Bangkok, Thailand, on Thursday with the main focus on the issues related to nuclear safety and security in the region.

The talks are being arranged jointly by a newly formed think-tank Jinnah Institute Pakistan (JIP) and Institute of Peace and Security, India.

Talking to Dawn on Tuesday, JIP president and a Pakistan People's Party MNA Sherry Rehman, who will lead the Pakistan delegation, said the agenda of the talks included resumption of dialogue between India and Pakistan at the official level and preparation of a roadmap for sustainable peace between the two South Asian neighbours.

She said leading experts and retired military and foreign service officials from both the sides would focus on the positions of the two countries on issues such as nuclear safety and security, stability and crisis management, arms control and disarmament, nuclear risk reduction measures and possible avenues of cooperation.

Former high commissioner to India Aziz Ahmed Khan, former army chief Gen (retd) Jahangir Karamat, TV anchor Nasim Zehra, Dr Rifaat Hussain, professor and chair, Department of Defence and Strategic Studies, Quaid-i-Azam University, former foreign secretaries Humayun Khan and Najmuddin Khan, former DG Air Force Strategic Command AVM (retd) Shehzad Chaudhry and Sehar Tariq of the JIP will also represent Pakistan at the dialogue.

The Indian side, led by Gen (retd) Dipankar Banerjee, a retired army man and an eminent defence, foreign policy and strategic expert, includes Prof Amitabh Mattoo of Jawaharlal Nehru University, former director Research and Analysis Wing A. S. Daulat, Net Assessment and Simulation, National Security Council chairman Admiral (retd) Raja Menon, former high commissioner to Pakistan G. Parthasarthy and Siddharth Vardarajan, strategic affairs editor of The Hindu.

Ms Rehman said it was a comprehensive dialogue process. She agreed that there had been some changes in the both sides, but the two countries brought core groups of experts that ensured continuity and some level of trust.

Such dialogues, she said, were part of an effort to move beyond official positions, and to find a way forward.

In the previous round of dialogue that was also held in Bangkok in August last year, the participants had called upon the governments in the two countries to facilitate talks between representatives from all parts of Jammu and Kashmir in an effort to find out an amicable solution to the decades old problem.

They had also deliberated upon the situation in Afghanistan realising that the conditions in the war-ravaged country had a direct impact on the ties between Pakistan and India.

There was a consensus amongst the participants that both sides must actively collaborate to facilitate the prosecution of terrorists being tried for acts of terrorism and also proposed that both countries must respect each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty and refrain from interference in each other's internal affairs.

At the end of the interactions, a consensus document was also agreed upon.

The participants had suggested that New Delhi and Islamabad should consider activating the back-channel on Jammu and Kashmir to complement the bilateral talks.

They had also recommended exchanges of visits by military delegations, especially at the level of services chiefs, and similar exchanges between intelligence agencies to build trust and confidence.