ISLAMABAD, Jan 18: New Delhi is likely to be the venue for Pakistan-India talks that are expected to resume in the third week of February but the level for the talks remains undecided, say diplomatic sources.
The talks that would mark the resumption of a composite dialogue would include discussion on all bilateral issues, including Jammu and Kashmir as reflected in the Jan 6 Joint Statement, recording a ground-breaking agreement reached between President General Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.
In the joint statement, Pakistan held out the assurance that it would not allow its territory to be used by terrorists and India said the issue of Jammu and Kashmir would be included in the dialogue.
The talks between the two countries have been stalled since the Agra summit in July 2001. Indian External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha's telephone call to his Pakistani counterpart Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri on Saturday was made to reiterate the decision made by the two sides on Jan 5 to re-start the composite dialogue. However, the two ministers arrived at no decision on the level of the dialogue in their first post-Saarc summit contact.
According to Pakistan foreign minister's recent statement and the media reports in New Delhi it appears while Pakistanis are seeking bilateral talks at the foreign secretary level, the Indians want the same at the joint secretary level.
The question of the level at which talks are to be held is likely to become the first test of what appeared to be great bonhomie between the Pakistani and Indian leadership during the 12th Saarc summit in Islamabad early this month.
This sentiment was not necessarily reflected at the bureaucratic level of the two countries given that non-bureaucrats on both sides primarily conducted the negotiations on the bilateral agreement.
Pakistan's civil and military foreign policy institutions have sought to re-engage India in a composite dialogue over all outstanding issues, including the key issue of Jammu and Kashmir. However, they have sought this dialogue at an "appropriate" policy-making level.
According to diplomatic sources in Islamabad, Pakistan is banking on Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee's decision to normalise ties with Pakistan as well as his expression of willingness to address the issue of Jammu and Kashmir through dialogue to ensure talks begin at the foreign secretary level.
"We hope the agreement reached in Islamabad would be fully implemented and a new chapter is opened," Prime Minister Vajpayee reportedly told a rally in Hyderabad recently.
Meanwhile, in New Delhi informed sources also believe that given India's early election and New Delhi's calculation that the real test of Pakistan's declaration regarding stopping cross LoC infiltration will come in the summer, may encourage India to stall holding of any meaningful talks till after the new government settles in. This would mean late May or early June.
The final decision on the level of talks is likely to be taken in the coming weeks. There is no indication that Pakistan's key foreign policy institutions will settle for talks at any level other than the foreign secretary level.