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India, Pakistan begin talks on Kashmir issue
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-06-27 15:44
India and Pakistan Sunday resumed their composite dialogue at the foreign
secretary level after a gap of nearly six years, with New Delhi expected to
announce several confidence-building measures to boost the peace process.
The Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) Sunday reported that the two- day talks
between India's Foreign Secretary Shashank and his Pakistani counterpart Riaz
Khokhar is a follow-up to an agreement at their meeting in Islamabad in February
to resume a composite dialogue process to resolve all outstanding bilateral
issues, including Kashmir.
New Delhi would seek to take the process forward without compromising on
national interest, IANS said.
Sunday's talks will deal with peace and security issues and
confidence-building measures, while the talks Monday will focus on Kashmir.
The foreign secretaries are holding talks for the first time since the new
government of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh took office last
month.
The composite dialogue process resumed after a gap of six years,
during which bilateral relations touched their nadir and the two countries were
pushed to the brink of a fourth war.
Pakistan and India last held foreign secretary-level talks in October 1998 in
Islamabad.
On June 20, the two sides announced a virtual cap on further nuclear tests
and announced a set of measures, including a hotline between the foreign
secretaries, to prevent accidental or unauthorized use of nuclear
weapons.
The two countries' foreign ministers held talks on the sidelines of
the Asia Cooperation Dialogue in the Chinese city of Qingdao last week and
decided to provide "continuous political guidance" to the dialogue
process.
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