Pakistan, India inch along

ALI HUSSAIN

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and India have agreed to hold foreign secretary-level talks on August 25, 2014 in Islamabad to carry forward the dialogue process.

According to Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam, Indian Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh spoke to Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry over telephone on Wednesday.

“During the conversation, it was agreed that the two foreign secretaries would meet in Islamabad on August 25, 2014 to carry forward the dialogue process,” she said.

In line with the vision of the two prime ministers to improve and establish good neighbourly relations, the foreign secretaries agreed that the dialogue process between the two countries should be result-oriented, the spokesperson added.

The two foreign secretaries are meeting ahead of an important session of the UN General Assembly in New York in September where Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is expected to meet his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the event.

Sources said that the Foreign Office has urged the Prime Minister to attend the UN General Assembly and the two foreign offices are also working towards arranging a one-on-one meeting between the two premiers.

In the backdrop of Prime Minister Sharif’s meeting with his Indian counterpart in New Delhi on the eve of the latter’s oath taking ceremony, the sources said that the two foreign secretaries will restructure the agenda of talks to aggressively work for resolutions of the core issues.

They said that certain additional issues which were earlier not part of the composite dialogue process would also be included in the agenda of the talks between the two countries.

They said that Pakistan along with other core issues will also wish the water disputes between the two countries to be part of the agenda of the talks. They said that the two foreign secretaries will discuss the way forward and also suggest to club together certain issues, besides some new confidence building measures (CBMs) when they meet on August 25.

Under the composite dialogue process, the two countries were holding discussions on eight subjects including Kashmir, Siachen and Sir Creek. Now as the water dispute has also emerged between the two countries, the agenda of talks will be updated and restructured during the talks.