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| Indo-Pak foreign secys meet on Feb 25 to break the ice | | | Agencies
ISLAMABAD | FEB 12
Following a break in the continuity of confidence building measures (CBMs) between India and Pakistan after the Mumbai terror attacks 14 months ago, the two countries have emphasised the need for holding "meaningful and result-oriented" foreign
secretary-level talks "to break the ice".
In response to an offer made by New Delhi two weeks ago, Islamabad has agreed to carry forward CBMs and people-to-people contact to ease off tension between the two neighbouring countries a little.
To start with, it was decided to hold foreign secretary-level talks on February 25.
During the talks, which would be held in New Delhi, Islamabad would raise all "core issues" and press for resumption of composite dialogue, which was suspended after Mumbai attacks, prime minister's office said in a statement issued here today.
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao had called up her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir and invited him to New Delhi for talks, proposing February 18 or 25 as the favoured dates for it. The PMO statement said the decision on holding the talks was
taken at a meeting between Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi.
Bashir, who was present at the meeting, was directed by Gilani that the talks with his Indian counterpart should be "result-oriented and meaningful", it said.
The Pakistani side "should raise the core issues and impress upon India the need for their expeditious resolution through resumption of the composite dialogue", the statement said. he Indian side, while making the offer of talks, had said that these would focus on terrorism emanating from Pakistan and made it clear that composite dialogue could not resume til "the environment of terror or the threat of terror" persisted.
The PMO statement said Jamiat-e-Ulema Islami chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Chairman of the Parliamentary committee on Kashmir, also attended today's meeting that discussed the "whole gamut of Pak-India relationship, particularly the
Kashmir and water disputes between the two countries". Diplomatic sources said Pakistan's decision will be formally conveyed to India by its High Commissioner Shahid Malik after he returns to Delhi this week-end.
India suspended the composite dialogue in the aftermath of the 2008 Mumbai attacks and linked the resumption Of the process to Pakistan taking "concrete and transparent" action against the perpetrators of the assault and dismantling terror infrastructure.
Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan met under the Composite Dialogue format for the last time in New Delhi on July 21, 2008 when they launched the fifth round of the
process.
While the dialogue process remained suspended after 26/11 attacks, Foreign Secretaries and officials of the two countries have been meeting on the sidelines of international conferences in the past few months.
Rao and Bashir had last met in New York on September 26 on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly to review the progress made by Pakistan into the Mumbai terror attacks probe.
India has made it clear that the Foreign Secretary-level talks "are not composite dialogue but just dialogue" to "unlock" the channels of communication frozen since 26/11 attacks.
It underlines that the talks would not mean resumption of composite dialogue even though it is ready to discuss whatever issue Pakistan raises, including Balochistan, as it wants to deal with the situation in a "mature" and "confident" manner.
Under the composite dialogue eight issues including Jammu and Kashmir and terrorism were discussed in five rounds of talks before it was "paused" in November 2008 in the wake of Mumbai attacks.
From the Indian side, cross-border terrorism and infiltration, which witnessed a marked increase last year, will be the "centre-piece" of the proposed meeting.
While offering Foreign Secretary-level talks as an "incremental step", India has made it clear that there cannot be any "meaningful dialogue" or "normalisation" of relations until its prime concern of cross-border terrorism is addressed by Pakistan.
The offer of talks is a "practical and pragmatic approach" to seek redressal of India's concerns with regard to cross-border terrorism, sources said, adding the intention is to convey its point of view directly to the Pakistani establishment rather than "firing salvos".
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