India, Pak Foreign Secretaries meet

New Delhi, Feb 25 (PTI) After a 14-month hiatus,
Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan met here on Thursday
for structured talks with an aim of ending the chill in the
relations caused by Mumbai attacks.
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao headed the Indian
delegation while the Pakistani delegation was led by her
counterpart Salman Bashir.
Before getting into the talks at Hyderbad House, Rao
said, "I welcome Foreign Secretary of Pakistan Salman
Bashir...I look forward to our talks".
Bashir said, "...It is a pleasure for me to be back
here. ....We are also looking forward to a very good,
constructive engagement".
At the talks, India was set to raise concerns over
continued terrorism emanating from Pakistan and press it to
end this scourge which was hampering normalisation of ties.
In this context, Rao is expected to refer to the
recent anti-India rally held by Jamat-ud-Dawa in Lahore where
its chief Hafiz Saeed made provocative speeches inciting
Pakistanis to intensify attack against the country.
India is also likely to seek the progress report from
Pakistan on the investigation and prosecution into the Mumbai
attacks.
Rao is also expected to seek voice samples of seven
arrested LeT operatives in connection with Mumbai attacks to
be provided to India to match them with telephonic intercepts
recorded by the security agencies here.
The Pakistani side was expected to raise Kashmir and
water issue.
India has made it clear that terrorism is the focus of
these talks although it was ready to discuss any issue that
could yield to peace and security between the two countries.
India has played down any great expectations from
these talks and cited the "trust deficit".
New Delhi has emphasised that the Foreign
Secretary-level talks did not mean resumption of composite
dialogue which was put on hold by India after the 2008 Mumbai
attacks carried out by ten Pakistani nationals.
After 26/11, Foreign Secretaries of the two countries
have been meeting on the sidelines of various multi-lateral
events. The last formal meeting between the Foreign
Secretaries was held in May 2008.
Refusing to pre-judge the outcome of the talks, India,
says the future of the relations could be determined by the
way Pakistan acts on India's concerns.
Arriving here yesterday, Bashir said, "I have come
here to bridge the differences. I am hopeful of a positive
outcome."
Bashir is also scheduled to call on External Affairs
Minister S M Krishna and National Security Advisor Shiv
Shankar Menon.
Prior to Mumbai attacks, the composite dialogue which
was launched in 2004 had made considerable progress during the
four rounds.
Under the composite dialogue, eight issues including
Jammu and Kashmir, Confidence Building Measures, Siachen and
Sir Creek were discussed. PTI PYK
AHM