A joint declaration unanimously adopted at the end of the conference said 26/11 Mumbai attacks have seriously affected the Indo-Pak dialogue process and, therefore, the perpetrators of the attack should be brought to justice at the earliest.
The participants of the Indo-Pak Track-II dialogue, which recently concluded in Bangkok, has called for initiating institutionalised and regular contacts between intelligence agencies and continuous exchange of intelligence sharing on terrorism.
A joint declaration unanimously adopted at the end of the conference said 26/11 Mumbai attacks have seriously affected the Indo-Pak dialogue process and, therefore, the perpetrators of the attack should be brought to justice at the earliest.
Similarly, Pakistan is deeply concerned over the loss of lives in the Samjhauta Express attack and that India has to expeditiously prosecute those involved and keep Pakistan informed.
The participants also resolved that a dialogue between the two countries should include discussions on Jammu and Kashmir and the formal bilateral dialogue should be complemented by back-channel contacts and that the people of Jammu & Kashmir should be appropriately consulted in the process.
A group of senior opinion-makers and experts on foreign and defence issues from India and Pakistan took part in the sixth round of ‘Track-II dialogue’ jointly organised by a newly-formed think-tank by Jinnah Institute, Islamabad, and the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, Delhi.
The Pakistani delegation was led by president of Jinnah Institute Sherry Rehman. The Indian side was led by Maj-Gen (retd) Dipankar Banerjee, a retired army man and an eminent defence, foreign policy and strategic expert.
The declaration termed the absence of a formal and sustained engagement on full range of issues confronting India and Pakistan unhealthy, counter-productive and dangerous.
“We agree with the broad vision of India-Pakistan relations in which borders cannot be changed but can indeed be made irrelevant,” the declaration said.Expressing disappointment over “the difficulty in people-to-people contacts because of the increasingly restrictive visa regime,” they urged the two governments to adopt a more rational visa policy to facilitate contacts, particularly between media persons, academics, students and business people.
“We emphasise the need to prioritise the implementation of the previously-agreed upon CBMs (confidence building measures), particularly on trade and travel,” the declaration stated.
The meet also called for reviewing the efficacy of the existing CBMs and exploring “additional declaratory, unilateral, and mutually agreed nuclear confidence building measures and nuclear risk reduction measures”.
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