India to discuss all issues; will convey concerns over terror

New Delhi, Jun 20 (PTI) India is willing to discuss all
issues that may be raised by Pakistan in the June 24 Indo-Pak
Foreign Secretary-level talks as it approaches the parleys in
an "exploratory mode" amid indications that Pakistan may ask
for the withdrawal of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act from
Kashmir.
"We are not going there in accusatory mode but we are
going there in exploratory mode," a top official source said
here while maintaining that India will respond to all issues,
including contentious, if raised by Pakistan, with confidence.
When Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao meets her
Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir in Islamabad on Thursday,
the agenda from the Indian side will be to convey serious
concerns over continuing terror by Pakistan-based groups,
speedy conclusion of the trial of those involved in 26/11
attacks, infiltration, ceasefire violations and drug
trafficking from across the LoC.
People-to-people contact, humanitarian issues and
trade across the LoC in Kashmir will also be raised during the
parleys with India's keenness to build on the progress made
earlier through the Composite Dialogue and back channel
diplomacy. It also maintained that willingness from Pakistan
to do so will surely be a "trust building step."
Emphasising that Pakistan needs to tackle terror
emanating from its soil against India, the sources said it
further complicates the complex relationship, the two
countries have.
Maintaining that information about possible attacks on
Indian nationals or the targets in the country never cease
reflecting a continued problem in the relationship, the
sources said it was Pakistan's responsibility to ensure that
groups operating from its soil should not be able to carry out
such attacks as any such strike in future will have a very
"damaging impact".
The sources said India has already sought a "detailed
response" from Pakistan on information about the ongoing
Mumbai attacks trial and all the investigative links under
their possession.
They said these issues as well as role of
Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed, who is a mastermind of
Mumbai attacks and is still roaming free, will also figure in
Home Minister P Chidambaram's meeting with his Pakistani
counterpart Rahman Malik on the sidelines of the SAARC
Interior Ministers meeting on June 25 in Islamabad.
Maintaining that India will try to see how it could go
about bridging "trust-deficit" as mandated by the two prime
ministers in their meeting in Thimphu on April 29, the sources
said there will also be an attempt to see what steps can be
put in place to do so.
Maintaining that there was no prepared agenda for the
meeting, Bashir said, "We do not have a prepared agenda. We
will see what can be identified as doable and then take it to
the Foreign Ministers' level. In this meeting, we will try and
find a common denominator", but indicated that Kashmir issue
will also be raised.
There were also indications that Pakistan will demand
withdrawal of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), to
which the sources maintained that Islamabad has no "locus
standi" on the issue.
Rao will be the first official to travel to Pakistan
after the 2008 Mumbai attacks following which India called off
the composite dialogue process.
With the Indian focus on terrorism, the meeting of the
home ministers will set the tone for the meeting between
External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and his Pakistani
counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi on July 15 in Islamabad.
Both the meeting of the foreign secretaries and home
ministers, will also give India a good idea of how "serious"
Pakistan was to its concerns and where it wants to take the
relations with India.
The sources also maintained that the steps such as
granting of Most Favoured Nation's status by Pakistan will
also give an indication, how serious it was to improve trade
relations with India.
Asked if India will also raise of India's most-wanted
Dawood Ibrahim being in Karachi, as was recently disclosed by
his daughter on a social networking site, the sources said it
has been raised on various occasions and Pakistan was aware of
country's concerns on the issue.
"His name already figure in the list of fugitive,
given to Pakistan and they have to respond," a source said.
Ahead of the meeting between Rao and Bashir, India on
Friday handed over a dossier related to 26/11 to Pakistan.
The dossier contained information related to the
questions raised in six dossiers that Pakistan handed over two
months ago. Besides providing further information on the those
behind the terror attacks, including Saeed, the 11th dossier
also contained the court judgment sentencing Ajmal Kasab to
death for his role in the attacks. PTI PYK
RBT