India, Pakistan exchange non-papers on Sir Creek

From Rezaul H Laskar
Islamabad, May 21 (PTI) India and Pakistan exchanged
"non-papers" during talks on the Sir Creek issue that ended
on Saturday, in a bid to find an amicable settlement to the
decades-old boundary dispute and agreed to meet again.
The non-papers – diplomatic parlance for negotiating
texts informally circulated by countries to facilitate
discussions without making any commitment to the contents –
were exchanged as the two countries held their first round of
talks on the Sir Creek issue in four years.
"Both sides exchanged non-papers in order to take
their discussions forward, with a view to finding an amicable
settlement of the issue. They agreed to meet again at a
mutually convenient date," said a joint statement issued at
the end of the two-day parleys.
The talks, held in a "friendly and cordial
atmosphere", focused on the India-Pakistan land boundary in
the Sir Creek area and the delimitation of the international
maritime boundary between the two countries, the statement
said.
Though the statement made no mention to a joint survey
of the 96-km estuary conducted in early 2007, it is believed
the two sides exchanged maps outlining their respective
positions.
Pakistani sources claimed Additional Defence Secretary
Rear Admiral Shah Sohail Masood, who led his country's side at
the talks, told the Indian side that the joint survey should
not be considered the basis for an agreement. The survey had
not resulted in agreement on the boundary in any of the
segments, Masood was quoted as saying by the sources.
The Indian side at the talks was led by Surveyor
General of India S Subba Rao. The Indian delegation also
called on Defence Secretary Lt Gen Syed Athar Ali.
The talks on the Sir Creek issue, held at the Defence
Ministry in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, were part of a
bilateral dialogue process that was recently revived after a
gap of over two years in the wake of the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
During the last round of talks on the Sir Creek issue
four years ago, the two countries made significant progress in
resolving the dispute over the estuary in the Rann of Kutch
separating India's Gujarat state from Pakistan's Sindh
province.
At that time, Indian officials had said there was
convergence "up to a great degree" over demarcating the
maritime boundary based on maps finalised in the joint survey
of 2007. Unlike the military standoff in the Siachen glacier,
experts on both sides say a deal on the Sir Creek issue is
"doable".
The talks on the Sir Creek issue followed parleys
earlier this year between the Home and Interior Secretaries,
the Commerce Secretaries and Water Secretaries, who discussed
the Tulbul navigation project-Wullar barrage issue.
Indian members of a joint Judicial Committee on
Prisoners visited Pakistan to discuss ways to speed up the
release of prisoners held in each other's jails.
An indication that both sides were close to clinching
a deal on Sir Creek was also given in secret cables sent to
Washington by the then American Ambassador to Pakistan Anne
Patterson in 2008.
The cable were about the talks between then US
Assistant Secretary Richard Boucher and Mahmud Ali Durrani,
the then National Security Advisor to the Pakistan Prime
Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.
The cable released by WikiLeaks said: "Progress on
Sir Creek was possible, although not for the moment on
Siachen".
"On Sir Creek, Durrani said he believed the two sides
were very close and that a deal was possible. He felt that
politically both Pakistan and India were ready to support an
agreement and that the 'contours' of an agreement had been
worked out with the Pakistani military," it said.
The cable dated October 28, 2008 added that Durrani
confirmed that former President Pervez Musharraf's National
Security Advisor Tariq Aziz had agreed to continue his
back-channel negotiations, but in a private capacity.