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ISLAMABAD: The foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan met in Islamabad for a second day of talks on Friday, DawnNews reported.
Indian foreign secretary Nirupama Rao also met with the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar on the dialogue's second day.
On Thursday, the two sides, led by Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir and Ms Rao, tried to keep out negativity by feeding media with feel good phrases like ‘substantive’, ‘cordial’, ‘forward looking’, ‘constructive’. But it was quite obvious that they struggled to move forward by manoeuvring within a limited political space available to them for negotiating.
The talks are divided into three segments. The first segment was on peace and security, including conventional and nuclear-confidence building measures, but India pushed the Mumbai probe and the fresh evidence emerging in the case on the table — a move the Pakistani side countered by raising the 2007 Samjhauta Express bombing.
“All aspects relating to peace and security have been discussed and terrorism is an issue which is confronting both the countries and of course it is very relevant to peace and security,” Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesman told journalists at the Foreign Office after the first day of talks.
The delegations also discussed the existing set of conventional and nuclear CBMs and their implementation. Both countries are observing two CBMs, one on missile notification and another on the annual exchange of lists of nuclear installations.
Foreign Office spokesperson Tehmina Janjua on Thursday said: “They exchanged views on all issues relevant to peace and security including CBMs that exist between the two countries. A number of ideas were discussed and reflected upon. The talks were substantive, held in very cordial atmosphere and were forward looking.”
