Indo-Pak to resume composite dialogue today

The stalled composite dialogue between India and Pakistan since last year is now going on the right track with Foreign Secretaries level parleys on Tuesday in Islamabad, which will be followed by the meeting between the Foreign Ministers of the two nations the next day.

Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon will hold talks to review the fourth round of India-Pakistan composite dialogue with his Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir and will also raise the issue of Kashmir, Peace and Security, and cross-border terrorism.

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After serial blasts in Jaipur and unprovoked firing at the Line of Control from the Pakistani side will no doubt likely to dominate the meeting. But, both sides as per the official sources are determined to hold the dialogue seriously. The success of the meeting will give a tight slap to those who don't want peace process between the two countries to be carried on.

Shivshankar Menon reached Islamabad late on Monday to prepare the ground for talks between India's External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who will meet Wednesday to review the progress made in the discussions.

The Tuesday meeting between the Foreign Secretaries will be the first formal engagement between the two countries after the formation of the new government that took charge in Islamabad two months ago.

The review parleys will assist the two sides to assess the progress made in the fourth round of the composite dialogue process and will guide them further how to deal with the issues in a more meaningful ways later.

The meeting will focus on all the issues laid in the agenda of the composite dialogue, which comprises Peace and Security including new Confidence Building Measures (CBMs), Jammu and Kashmir, Siachen, Sir Creek, Wullar Barrage, Terrorism and Drugs Trafficking, Economic and Commercial Cooperation, and Promotion of Friendly Exchanges. Under CBMs, the Kargil-Skardu and Jammu-Sialkot bus services as well as speeding up the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad and the Poonch-Rawalkot bus services will be the core of the dialogue.

However, the two sides concluded talks on the aforesaid eight issues during the fourth round of the composite dialogue in October last year. But, the meeting could not be wrapped up owing to staying of the Foreign Secretary level meeting. Later, the political uncertainty in Pakistan did not allow the meeting to take place.

Shivshankar Menon and Pranab Mukherjee will also meet former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the co-chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party Asif Ali Zardari, Awami National Party leader Ashfandiyar Wali Khan and President Pervez Musharraf.

The core of the dialogue will be terrorism, Kashmir issue and prisoners in each other’s jails when India and Pakistan hold talks. Sarabjit Singh’s pardon case will also be discussed.

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee will visit Islamabad late Tuesday to hold meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi next day.