ISLAMABAD, Aug 22: Top Pakistani and Indian diplomats will meet in Islamabad on Sept 1 to review how the two countries have progressed on their peace process in one year before a planned bilateral summit at the United Nations, the two sides announced on Monday.
A foreign ministry spokesman said it would be “a very important meeting” of the foreign secretaries of the two countries to review the progress of eight-items agenda of what is known as the “composite dialogue” that the two nuclear rivals resumed last year following a prolonged deadlock.
The secretaries’ review of progress on the eight subjects, including the main dispute over Jammu and Kashmir, will be followed by a foreign ministers’ meeting at dates to be decided later, spokesman Mohammad Naeem Khan said.
Other agenda items are: peace and security, disputes over Wullar Barrage in the held Kashmir, Siachen glacier and Sir Creek maritime boundary, terrorism and drug trafficking, economy and trade cooperation, and promotion of friendly exchanges.
A similar announcement in New Delhi said Indian foreign secretary Shyam Saran would make a three-day visit to Islamabad from Aug 31 for a second round of talks with his Pakistani counterpart Riaz Mohammad Khan on Sept 1.
“The two foreign secretaries will hold a very important meeting to review the progress of the eight-point agenda that have been discussed over the last one year,” Mr Khan told reporters at his weekly news briefing where he also said meetings between leaders and officials of the two countries so far were “very positive developments” showing the peace process was on track.
He said the expected meeting between President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in mid- September on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session would be a good opportunity for the two leaders to discuss all issues, including Kashmir. No date for the meeting has yet been set.
The spokesman declined to go into possible options for a Kashmir solution but said Pakistan’s “very clear” position at this stage was that “the leadership (of the two countries) has to show flexibility,...boldness and they have to really come up with a solution which is acceptable to both sides”.
“As far as the Indian side is concerned I think they are also engaged in this process and when the two leaders as expected to meet on the margins on the UNGA it would certainly be a good opportunity for them to discuss all issues including the issue of Jammu and Kashmir and other aspects of bilateral relations,” he said.
GONE BIG WAY: Mr Khan disagreed with a suggestion that the progress of the peace process was slow and said the situation should be viewed with the background of more than five decades of misunderstandings, three wars and a 10-month “eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation” as recently as in 2000. “So don’t you feel we have gone a big way from what was two years ago?” he asked. He said the leadership of both the countries had shown courage and contacts between the two sides were taking place at all levels, including those about confidence- building measures, expanding economic interaction, issues of peace and security.
“I think these are all very positive developments,” the spokesman said. “We have to see the point from where we have moved and the point where we have arrived.” He acknowledged that the two countries faced “problems and difficulties” while diplomacy allowed them only a step-by-step progress rather than big jumps but said these were not insurmountable problems.
“The important thing is that the leadership is focused,... we are moving on the process...and all the meetings are taking place,” he said.
PRISONERS’ PLIGHT: But Mr Khan was not as upbeat about the plight of an estimated 222 Pakistani prisoners in Indian jails on numerous charges as he sought consular access to them and an immediate release on humanitarian grounds. “Pakistan has repeatedly asked India to grant it access to its nationals languishing in many Indian jails, including some who have been there for around 18 years,” he said in response to a question.
He said the government was seized of this humanitarian issue that even President Musharraf and other leaders had been taking it up with their Indian counterparts regularly.
CONTROVERSIAL DAMS: Replying to a question about the controversial Baglihar dam being built by India over the Chenab river in the held Kashmir, Mr Khan said Pakistan had presented its case to a World Bank-appointed neutral expert on Aug 18 through a coordinator’s office in Washington.
He said he understood the India would now submit its case to the neutral expert who would review the matter and then make a trip to the region in the first week of October that would include a visit to the dam site with Indian and Pakistani experts.