ISLAMABAD, Oct 7: Pakistan on Thursday proposed to India a schedule of seven meetings in November and December which includes foreign secretaries meeting, expert-level talks on conventional and nuclear confidence-building measures as well as the Muzaffarabad Srinagar bus service.
The proposed schedule of meetings was formally conveyed to Indian Deputy High Commissioner Mr. T. C. A. Raghavan by Director-general for South Asia Affairs Jalil Abbas Jilani at the Foreign Office here on Thursday morning.
The announcement of the proposed schedule is a follow-up to an agreement reached at the foreign ministers' level talks in New Delhi on Sept 5-6 and comes 12 days after President Gen Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh held their first meeting in New York.
Although no specific dates for various meetings have been proposed, sources in the Foreign Office told Dawn that the meetings would stagger from end November to end December, starting with talks on conventional and nuclear CBMs and ending with the meeting between the two foreign secretaries.
It is learnt that the meeting of the foreign secretaries on the issue of peace and security and Jammu and Kashmir is likely to take place in the third week of December. The order in which the schedule of various meetings has been given by the Foreign Office is as follows:
Expert level meetings on Conventional and Nuclear CBMs; meeting between Railways authorities on the Munnabao-Khokhrapar rail link; meeting between the Indian Coast Guards and the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency; Joint Survey of the boundary pillars in the Sir Creek area; Meeting between narcotics control authorities; meeting on commencement of a bus service between Muzaffarbad and Srinagar; and meeting between foreign secretaries.
According to informed sources the twice postponed Kashmir bus link talks have now been slated for early December. Officials here said these talks would be held at the politico-technical level.
The announcement of proposed meeting for starting the Muzaffarabad-Srinagar bus service coincides with the first visit of a group of Pakistani journalists to Srinagar sponsored by Safma (South Asian Free Media Association).
Reports coming in from Srinagar have underlined the strong desire of Kashmiris to see this bus service get rolling. Pakistan and India have had differences over the travel documents. However, signals from the Indian side now suggest that New Delhi may no longer insist on the condition of passports and visas.