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Talks with Pak. on air links on Aug. 27-28

By Our Diplomatic Correspondent

NEW DELHI JULY 31. A team of Indian officials dealing with civil aviation issues will be in Islamabad on August 27-28 for talks on resuming overflights and air links between India and Pakistan, official sources said today.

Pakistan had proposed two sets of dates for the talks and India conveyed its consent for the discussions at the end of next month, they said.

While Islamabad had offered to resume direct flights between the two countries, suspended by India after the December 13, 2001, attack on Parliament House, there was initial silence on the issue of overflights from Pakistan.

Reports in the Pakistani press had suggested that Islamabad may be interested in seeking "guarantees" from India on the overflight issues to ensure that New Delhi did not stop overflights on a "unilateral" basis.Now, however, officials from the Civil Aviation Ministry, Indian Airlines, the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation, and, possibly, from the Ministry of External Affairs Ministry will travel to Islamabad for these talks.

On May 2, the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, received a telephone call from his Pakistani counterpart, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, during which Mr. Vajpayee offered to resume civil aviation links on a "reciprocal basis". On May 6, Mr. Jamali suggested the resumption of bus and train services between the two countries. On July 11 the Delhi-Lahore bus service got going again.

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