The Composite Dialogue has become an early casualty of tension between India and Pakistan in the wake of attacks in Mumbai, with several key meetings under it being put on hold.
ISLAMABAD: The Composite Dialogue has become an early casualty of tension between India and Pakistan in the wake of attacks in Mumbai, with several key meetings under it being put on hold as New Delhi awaits "strong action" from Islamabad against terrorists responsible for the carnage.
Several key meetings scheduled to be held this month and in January as part of the fifth round of the Composite Dialogue are now unlikely to take place till Pakistan acts on
India's concerns, diplomatic sources said.
"All upcoming meetings have been put on hold. It definitely can't be business as usual till matters related to the attacks and India's demand for action against terrorist elements in Pakistan are addressed," he said.
Indian officials have blamed the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba for the Mumbai attacks that killed 183 people.
Besides seeking "strong action" against "elements from Pakistan" linked to the attacks, India has asked Pakistan to hand over 20 most wanted criminals and terrorists, including LeT founder Hafiz Mohammed Saeed.
Pakistan Tuesday offered to conduct a joint investigation into the attacks and said it would frame a response to India's list of wanted men after examining it.
The defence secretaries of the two countries had been expected to meet in January to discuss the Siachen issue.
Though no dates had been finalised, sources said this meeting was unlikely to go ahead.
Other important upcoming meetings affected by the tension are those between the Secretaries for Commerce, Culture and Water Resources. A visit by a team from India's Planning Commission, scheduled for this week, has also been put off.
A meeting of technical experts on the Sir Creek maritime boundary issue, scheduled for December 2-3 in New Delhi, was postponed a few days before the Mumbai attacks at India's request for logistical reasons.
The sources said this meeting too is unlikely to be rescheduled in the near future.
However, a visit by India's Indus Waters Commissioner to Pakistan went ahead as scheduled on Sunday. The Indian team visited sites in Punjab province under tight security to carry out a survey in connection with Pakistan's complaint about the
diversion of waters of the Chenab river.
Ironically, the Home Secretaries of the two countries met in Islamabad hours before the Mumbai attacks and decided to cooperate in combating terrorism.
The only other meeting held under the fifth round of the composite dialogue was the one between the Foreign Secretaries in July, shortly after the bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul that was linked by India and Afghanistan to the Inter-Services Intelligence.
Pakistan has said it will send a representative of the ISI to India to assist in the probe into the Mumbai attacks but modalities for this visit are yet to be worked out, sources said. The Pakistan government withdrew an earlier decision to send the ISI chief Shuja Pasha to India apparently under pressure from the army.
The Composite Dialogue was last suspended by India in July 2006 following the bombing of Mumbai's commuter trains that killed 187 people. India had then too asked Pakistan to act against terrorists operating from its soil.
The peace talks were put back on track after a meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and then President Pervez Musharraf on the sidelines of a NAM summit in Cuba in September 2006.
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