Yet another round of talks between the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan concluded in Islamabad on Friday without any major breakthrough.
Yet another round of talks between the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan concluded in Islamabad on Friday without any major breakthrough, other than the Pakistani foreign secretary Salman Bashir assuring his Indian counterpart Nirupama Rao that all possible steps would be taken to contain the activities of the Jamaat-ud- Dawa’s Ameer Hafiz Mohammad Saeed and ensuring a speedy and satisfactory closure of the Mumbai attackers’ trial who are being tried by an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi.
The two foreign secretaries issued a joint statement at the end of the talks in Islamabad which was followed by a brief question-answer session.
Both the foreign secretaries reiterated that their governments wanted to tackle the menace of terrorism jointly for which coordinated efforts are required.
A carefully-worded joint statement issued on the occasion listed no concrete agreement other than a commitment to meet again in New Delhi, at a date yet to be announced, to prepare for a pre-arranged foreign ministers’ meeting in July.
The statement said Islamabad talks were frank and cordial and that both sides intended to continue dialogue in a “constructive and purposeful manner”.
The India foreign secretary reportedly made it clear to his Pakistani counterpart that resolution of the Kashmir issue cannot take place under the shadow of guns.
Nirupama Rao said during the press conference that the ideology of military conflict should not have any place in the paradigm of the Indo-Pak ties in the 21st century.
“We believe the Pakistan prime minister’s commitment that he would not allow Pakistan territory to be used for terror activities. We must deny terrorist elements any attempt to derail good relations”, she said.
Nirupama hoped the Pakistan government would take appropriate steps to ensure a speedy trial of the Mumbai attackers who are being tried in Pakistan.
She also expressed satisfaction with the progress in the Samjhauta train blasts probe, adding that those responsible would be taken to task.
Bashir said there was every reason to be satisfied with the quality of discussions which were very productive and constructive.
He expressed satisfaction with the progress in the Samjhauta blasts probe, adding they have been given assurances in this regard by the Indian side.
Bashir said the interior ministry of Pakistan and the home ministry of India were in touch with each other pertaining to any progress in the 26/11 Mumbai attack as well as the Samjhauta blasts. He informed that the two sides have agreed to further discuss new nuclear confidence building measures by convening separate expert level meetings in near future on nuclear and conventional CBMs, the joint statement said.
“The two sides have also decided to reconvene the working group on cross-LoC CBMs on trade in a bid to expanded trade and travel across the border of Kashmir”, Bashir added.
All eyes are now on when the foreign ministers of the two countries meet on July 15 in Islamabad. That will be the next big political step in the always complicated Indo-Pak ties.
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