India raises ceasefire violations, Kabul attack at NSA talk

During the meeting, the Indian side is understood to have emphasised that such incidents do not augur well for the ongoing peace process and composite dialogue.

The two sides are believed to have looked at ways by which ceasefire violations could be ended.

Ahead of the talks, Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon said all issues that concern India would be discussed.

8220;We will discuss all the issues that concern us.Naturally, that includes what happened in Kabul, that includes the situation in terms of maintaining the ceasefire. We will do that,8221; he told reporters on the sidelines of a function.

India has been perturbed by increasing incidents of cross-LoC firing by Pakistani army, many a times to provide cover to infiltrating militants.

New Delhi has also been angry at the suicide attack on its embassy in Kabul on July 7, for which Afghanistan, India and the US have blamed Pakistan8217;s intelligence agency ISI.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh raised this issue with his Pakistani counterpart Yusuf Raza Gilani in Colombo on the sidelines of SAARC in August. Gilani had promised to hold an internal inquiry to ascertain whether or not ISI was involved.

These incidents had forced India to say that the dialogue process was under 8220;strain8221; and warn that its future could be in difficulty if such acts continued.

8220;Mr Durrani is an old friend. We have known him before. We know him and he has an interest in Indo-Pak relations for quite some years,8221; Menon said, adding 8220;let us see what we can take forward8221;.

The talks between the NSAs were a follow-up to the meeting between Singh and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari in New York last month on the margins of UN General Assembly.

8220;You have seen the joint statement and the determination to do something about these issues that affect us all,8221; Menon said while referring to the outcome of the meeting between Singh and Zardari.

India has been asking Pakistan to fulfil its promises of not allowing territories under its control for anti-India activities to facilitate forward movement in bilateral ties which have gone through 8220;difficult times8221; recently.

Zardari had assured Singh that his government would stand by its commitment of not allowing anti-India activities from Pakistani soil.

The two leaders had agreed that violence, hostility and terrorism have no place in the vision they share of the bilateral relationship and must be 8220;visibly and verifiably8221; prevented.

They had agreed to work for an early and full normalisation of relations between India and Pakistan, on the basis of mutual respect, peaceful co-existence and non-interference.