Foreign secretary Nirupama Rao and her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir agreed that positive and cordial relations were in mutual interest of both the countries and they needed to work in this direction.
Putting behind the bitter experience of last July, India and Pakistan on Sunday night appeared to have made a headway in bringing on track the stalled dialogue process as they agreed to carry it forward to resolve all outstanding issues in a constructive and forward-looking manner.
Foreign secretary Nirupama Rao and her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir, who met here for about 90 minutes, agreed that positive and cordial relations were in mutual interest of both the countries and they needed to work in this direction.
A common press statement issued by both sides said that the two foreign secretaries had met in pursuance of the mandate given by their prime ministers following their meeting in Thimphu in April, 2010 and the meeting of the foreign ministers in July last year in Islamabad and carry that process forward.
"The foreign secretaries had useful and frank discussions on the steps required to be taken in this context," ministry of external affairs' spokesperson Vishnu Prakash said while reading out the statement to the reporters.
"They agreed on the need for a constructive dialogue between India and Pakistan to resolve all outstanding issues. They affirmed the need to carry forward the dialogue process," he said, adding they would now brief their respective governments on their discussions.
During their talks in Thimphu on the sidelines of the SAARC Summit last April, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani had said the foreign ministers and foreign secretaries would work to reduce the trust deficit plaguing the relationship.
Sources said Rao and Bashir, who held an informal meeting last night in the run up to tonight's talks, had agreed that the dialogue process should be carried forward in a forward-looking manner.
At the meeting, the Indian side maintained that it was open to discussing all issues in a conducive atmosphere, they said.
The next milestone after today's talks will be the visit of Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi to India this year, dates for which will be worked out.
The meeting, on the sidelines of the SAARC foreign secretaries meeting, came six months after the talks between the foreign ministers of the countries ended on a bitter note in Islambad.
Even after the failed July talks, the two sides have been maintaining contacts through diplomatic channels and their leaders have met on the sidelines of some multilateral events.
A day before the meeting, India and Pakistan exchanged barbs over the issue of the Samjhauta blasts and the Mumbai terror attacks, but the two foreign secretaries chose to set a positive tone hours ahead of their talks.
Both Rao and Bashir said separately that they would endeavour to find a way forward for continued engagement between the two countries.
"We are resuming our contact after interregnum of some time. We have a number of issues to be discussed. As we have always said that dialogue between India and Pakistan is necessary and a must if we are to satisfactorily resolve the outstanding issues between our two countries," she said.
"We have a number of outstanding issues. So, we are going into this with an open mind and constructive attitude," Rao said.
Noting that her Pakistani counterpart would also have a "number of ideas" to discuss, Rao said, "so, this is going to be exploratory discussion and we hope that through this process, we can find a way forward."
Bashir, on his part, said he was looking forward to his meeting with Rao. "My expectations are that we should be working towards continued engagement," he said.
He said the two foreign secretaries would be preparing for engagement between their foreign ministers.
The Indian delegation that went into the talks includes joint secretary, Pakistan division YK Sinha, Indian high commisioner to Pakistan Sarat Sabharwal and joint secretary XP Division Vishnu Prakash.
From the Pakistani side the representatives included high commissioner to India Shahid Malik and Foreign Office's director general for South Asia Afrasiyab.
When asked about the provocative statement given by Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Abdul Basit questioning the pace of probe into Samjhauta Express blast, Rao said India has already made it clear that probe details would be shared with Pakistan if there is anything to share.
"We have already said an investigation is going on in Samjhauta blast. It was an act of terrorism, there is no doubt about it," she said about the February 2007 incident in which 68 passengers, including Pakistanis, were killed when an explosion took place at Panipat in Haryana when the cross-border train was on its way to Pakistan.
To a question, she emphasised that India will share with Pakistan if there is any evidence to share and when "we are ready to share evidence."
Bashir, meanwhile, refused to comment when asked about the Samjhauta issue in the backdrop of the statement issued by the Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman. "Why do you want to pick up one issue? There are a plenty of issues," he said.
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