Pak to seek firming up of CBMs with India during resumed talks

Rezaul H Laskar

Islamabad, June 17 (PTI) Pakistan is expected to seek
the firming up of confidence-building measures during the
upcoming Foreign Secretary-level talks with India to pave the
way for progress in addressing long-standing issues like
Kashmir, diplomatic sources said on Thursday.

Senior Pakistani officials have broadly classified the
issues to be raised during the meeting of the two Foreign
Secretaries in Islamabad on June 24 as outstanding issues like
the Kashmir issue, humanitarian matters like the release of
prisoners and fishermen, terrorism and trade and commerce, the
diplomatic sources told PTI.
The Pakistani side will press for strengthening of
confidence-building measures in these areas so that the two
sides can ultimately make headway in addressing issues that
have bedevilled relations for many decades, the sources said.
There are indications that the Pakistani side could
ask for the withdrawal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers)
Act and the release of political prisoners to improve the
ground situation in Jammu and Kashmir when Foreign Secretary
Salman Bashir meets his Indian counterpart Nirupama Rao.
The sources also said there is a realisation at the
highest levels of the Foreign Office of the need to lower
tensions in the region while at the same time preventing any
further deterioration of bilateral relations.
In this regard, the two sides are expected to discuss
ways to improve cooperation in countering terrorism, the
sources added.
There is a feeling in the Pakistani leadership that
there is a need to upgrade the existing Joint Anti-Terrorism
Mechanism, which was set up in 2006.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani spoke of the need to
reactivate the JATM earlier this month and Pakistani officials
now believe intelligence agencies should be represented in
this body, the sources said.
However, the Foreign Office appears to be undecided on
how to respond to India's call for firm action against
anti-India groups like Lashker-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed
and militant leaders like LeT founder and Jamaat-ud-Dawah
chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed.
Despite several dossiers provided by India on Saeed,
Pakistani leaders like Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi
and Interior Minister Rehman Malik have contended there isn't
enough evidence to act against the JuD chief.
In the run-up to the meeting of the Foreign
Secretaries, the government has been given the go-ahead by
parliament's standing committee on national security to take
"difficult decisions" to normalise ties with India, the Dawn
newspaper reported on Thursday.
The advice from the parliamentary panel was part of
eight recommendations made by it for the forthcoming meetings
of the Foreign Secretaries, Interior Ministers and Foreign
Ministers.
Pakistan is approaching the "resumed engagement with a
positive mindset" with the "hope that this leads to results
which are in our mutual interest and result in long-term
benefits to the people of Pakistan and India," Basit said.
However, the Foreign Office appears to be undecided on
how to respond to India's call for firm action against
anti-India groups like Lashker-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed
and militant leaders like LeT founder and Jamaat-ud-Dawah
chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed.
Despite several dossiers provided by India on Saeed,
Pakistani leaders like Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi
and Interior Minister Rehman Malik have contended there isn't
enough evidence to act against the JuD chief.
In the run-up to the meeting of the Foreign
Secretaries, the government has been given the go-ahead by
parliament's standing committee on national security to take
"difficult decisions" to normalise ties with India, the Dawn
newspaper reported Thursday.
The advice from the parliamentary panel was part of
eight recommendations made by it for the forthcoming meetings
of the Foreign Secretaries, Interior Ministers and Foreign
Ministers.
India's Home Minister P Chidambram will meet Interior
Minister Rahman Malik on the sidelines of a SAARC minister's
meeting in Islamabad on June 26 while a meeting of Foreign
Ministers is slated for July 15.
The standing committee on national security said tough
decisions are necessitated due to the changing global
scenario.
However, it said all such decisions should be in
conformity with Pakistan's long-standing stance on issues like
Kashmir, Siachen, Sir Creek and sharing of river waters.
The committee asked the Foreign Office to rethink
policies for relations with India and to dovetail them with
Pakistan's long-term strategic objectives.
Gilani and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh,
during their meeting on the sidelines of the SAARC summit in
April, tasked the Foreign Secretaries to find ways to bridge
the trust deficit between the two countries and to finalise
the agenda for the meeting of the Foreign Ministers.
Foreign Minister Qureshi Wednesday chaired an
inter-ministerial meeting at the Foreign Office to prepare for
the meeting of the Foreign Secretaries.
The meeting was also attended by representatives of
the military establishment, including the Inter-Services
Intelligence. PTI RHL
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