NEW DELHI: The foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan will hold
preparatory talks in New Delhi Tuesday to firm up details of
confidence-building measures and other trust-inducing initiatives that
are expected to be announced by their foreign ministers the following
day.
Accompanied by senior officials, Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir arrived here Monday evening.
Bashir
would hold talks with his Indian counterpart Nirupama Rao on a wide
range of bilateral issues with a view to firming up the agenda for
talks between External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna and his Pakistani
counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar on Wednesday.
Khar, Pakistan’s first woman foreign minister and the youngest to occupy the post, would arrive in New Delhi on Tuesday.
According
to Indian media, Rao and Bashir, who will be meeting after a month, are
expected to review the entire gamut of bilateral issues and firm up
deliverables that will be unveiled by the foreign ministers on
Wednesday.
An increase in the frequency of cross-Kashmir bus
links between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad and Poonch and Rawalakot, an
increase in the number of trading days across the Line of Control
(LoC), and opening of more trading points are expected to be the
tangible outcomes of talks.
Also to be discussed, sources said,
would be measures to liberalise the visa regime though there may not be
any immediate agreement on this.
After the talks between the
foreign ministers, the two sides will announce a slew of CBMs aimed at
lowering barriers to expanded trade and travel across the two divided
halves of Kashmir.
Ahead of the talks, both sides have struck a positive tone, but are keen not to raise the expectations.
India
was ready to discuss "all issues with an open mind", and will push for
speedy justice for victims of the 26/11 Mumbai carnage, a government
source said in New Delhi. The meeting between the foreign ministers
marks the high point of the peace process India resumed with Pakistan
in February after an over two-year hiatus following the 26/11 terror
spree in Mumbai. Online
