Indo-Pak talks stalled

ISLAMABAD, APRIL 23: The Indo-Pak bilateral dialogue process has been postponed indefinitely in view of continuing political uncertainty ...

ISLAMABAD, APRIL 23: The Indo-Pak bilateral dialogue process has been postponed indefinitely in view of continuing political uncertainty in India, official sources here said.

A new schedule for the talks process would be announced only after the new government takes over in New Delhi, they said.

Two important interactions between the two countries at various levels were slated for this month in Islamabad including the one between the ministers from both sides on the humanitarian issues.

quot;Because of uncertain political situation in India, the talks on humanitarian issues relating to civilian detainees and missing prisoners of war have not taken place, as the Indian minister has not arrived here,quot; a senior official of the foreign ministry was quoted as saying.

The Indian Minister of State for External Affairs Vasundhara Raje, was scheduled to arrive here this week to hold talks with her Pakistani counterpart on the prisoners issue and both countries were expected to finalise a permanent mechanism inthis regard.

The second casualty of the political uncertainty in New Delhi was the expert level talks between the two countries on the peace and security issues, which according to the original schedule was also to be held this month in Islamabad, the official sources said.

Experts from the two countries were scheduled to chalk out details on the basis of memorandum of understanding signed in Lahore on crucial issues like missile deployment and reducing the risk of accidental or unauthorised use of nuclear weapons under their respective controls.

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The schedule of these talks had been agreed upon between foreign ministers Jaswant Singh and Sartaj Aziz when they met in Colombo during the SAARC ministerial level conference last month.

With respect to that, the foreign secretary-level talks were to be held in New Delhi within one month of the expert-level talks to take up further discussions on crucial issues of peace and security and Kashmir besides the review of talks on all the eight outstandingissues.

Foreign secretary level talks was to be followed by deliberations on the remaining six issues at various levels in Islamabad one month later to complete the second round of the composite dialogue process. The first round of the composite dialogue process on all eight issues took place in Islamabad and New Delhi in October-November last year.