Pak to hold inter-ministerial meeting on Indian talks offer

Rezaul H Laskar

Islamabad, Feb 9 (PTI) Pakistan will hold high-level
confabulations here on Wednesday to discuss India's offer for
Foreign Secretary-level talks amid its insistence that such a
meeting should lead to the full-fledged resumption of the
composite dialogue.

Pakistan is in a dilemma over the Indian offer of talks
which is confined to discuss terrorism and is in the process
of formulating a response.
Foreign Minister of Pakistan Shah Mehmood Qureshi will
chair the inter-ministerial meeting at the Foreign Office on
Wednesday to assess the Indian offer of talks, after which a
clearer picture of Pakistan's response is expected to emerge.
The meeting is expected to be attended by representatives
of the interior and defence ministries and the intelligence
agencies, including the ISI.
India's offer for talks, conveyed by Foreign Secretary
Nirupama Rao last month, was the subject of in-house
consultations at the Foreign Office on Monday.
India has offered February 18 and 25 as possible dates
for a meeting of the Foreign Secretaries.
During yesterday's consultations, Foreign Secretary
Salman Bashir favoured the adoption of a cautious approach by
Pakistan and made it clear that any parleys with India should
lead to the eventual resumption of the composite dialogue that
was stalled in the wake of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, the
sources told PTI.