Date:25/12/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/12/25/stories/2004122504711200.htm

National

No need for suspicion, India will tell Pakistan

By Amit Baruah

NEW DELHI, DEC. 24. India will tell Pakistan that it need have no suspicion about the confidence-building approach proposed by New Delhi when the Foreign Secretaries of the two countries meet in Islamabad on December 27-28 in the next stage of their composite dialogue process.

The Foreign Secretary, Shyam Saran, who leaves for Lahore tomorrow en route to Islamabad, will begin the second round of the composite dialogue on peace and security and Jammu & Kashmir with his counterpart, Riaz Khokhar. Riaz Muhammad Khan, who is tipped to replace Mr. Khokhar as Pakistan's Foreign Secretary, will be present during the discussions. Mr. Saran is also scheduled to visit Peshawar.

South Block sources told this correspondent that India was approaching the second round of the composite dialogue with the "utmost seriousness" and not just to present an appearance that discussions between India and Pakistan continued.

New Delhi wishes to emphasise that the confidence-building measures proposed by it are not meant to detract from the Kashmir issue in any way, but are very much part and parcel of a solution to the vexed problem.

An agreed statement is likely to be issued at the end of two days of discussions, the sources said. The Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service, the re-opening of the Karachi and Mumbai Consulates and a possible agreement on pre-notification of flight tests are likely to figure in the discussions between the Foreign Secretaries, who will also talk about "overall progress" in the composite dialogue.

The sources said that like at all earlier bilateral meetings, the Indian side will raise Pakistani commitments as per the January 6, 2004, agreement that committed Islamabad not to allow the use of its territory to "support terrorism in any manner".

Referring to the publicly-projected stalemate in the talks on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service, the sources said that agreement was still possible to begin the cross-Line of Control (LoC) travel link.

However, Pakistan needed to approach the issue with realism, they felt. For instance during the December 7-8 technical-level talks on the bus service, Pakistan had suggested that the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) handle the passengers, a proposal unacceptable to India. However, Islamabad did not project this as a condition for further progress on the bus talks, which are stuck on the type of travel documents to be used.

The Indian side understands the linkage between the Pakistani objective to ensure that "progress" be made on Kashmir when "progress" is made on other issues like the Khokhrapar-Munabao railway link or the re-opening of the Karachi and Munabao Consulates. But this linkage is, however, holding up the "do-able" in other areas.

New Delhi feels that it has done enough to facilitate the Pakistanis taking a piece of property on rent to re-open their Mumbai consulate, but, obviously, it cannot be provided free of charge by the Government of India.

On the pre-notification of flight tests, an issue recently discussed at the expert level in Islamabad, differences of opinion remain on the type of information to be provided by the two sides. However, the Indian side is hopeful that this can be sorted out.