India proposes foreign secretary-level talks with Pakistan (Roundup)

NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD - Signalling a thaw in bilateral ties, India has formally proposed to Pakistan talks between foreign secretaries and pledged to pursue the discussions with “an open and positive mind”.

It was the first definitive departure from the post Mumbai terror attack period when India suspended the composite dialogue with Islamabad, blaming it for the November 2008 mayhem that left 166 people dead.

But even as Islamabad prepared to receive later this month Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram, its foreign office talked tough that nothing short of a restart of the composite dialogue process would satisfy it.

“We want result-oriented and sustained dialogue and no format of engagement other than composite dialogue will be acceptable to us,” foreign office spokesperson Abdul Basit told the Dawn newspaper.

Basit said Pakistan would not be interested in “talks for the sake of talks”.

New Delhi has said the foreign secretary talks will focus primarily on counter-terrorism but has indicated “that other issues that will contribute to creating an atmosphere of peace and stability between the two countries will also be raised,” informed Indian sources said.

“Dates are being discussed for the meeting between the foreign secretaries,” an official said.

This will be the first meeting between Foreign Secretaries Nirupama Rao of India and Salman Bashir of Pakistan since they met in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in September last year.

The Indian side has stressed that it will hold “discussions with an open and positive mind” and will not like to prejudge their outcome.

All relevant issues will be discussed, including counter-terrorism, the sources added.

The foreign secretaries are likely to meet after Chidambaram’s expected visit to Islamabad to attend the Feb 26-28 meeting of home/interior ministers of the eight-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

This will be the first visit by an Indian minister to Pakistan since November 20008 when Pakistani terrorists sneaked into Mumbai and went on a killing spree, plunging India-Pakistan relations to an all-time low.

The two sides had decided on limited foreign secretary-level interaction after talks in Sharm el-Sheikh in July last year to assess the actions taken by Pakistan to punish terrorists linked to the Mumbai carnage and to address India’s concerns on cross-border terror.

A positive assessment by India after the talks between foreign secretaries could set the stage for the meeting between their foreign ministers and prime ministers on the sidelines of the SAARC summit in Thimpu April 28-29.

Chidambaram’s visit to Islamabad, along with the meeting between the foreign secretaries, are being seen in Pakistan as clear signals by India to resume the composite dialogue.

India, however, insists that the resumption of composite dialogue will hinge on Pakistan’s concrete actions against the masterminds of the Mumbai attacks.

External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna Wednesday indicated India’s willingness to resume dialogue with Pakistan, saying even a few steps by Islamabad vis-a-vis the Mumbai terror probe will “satisfy” it and make it easier “to carry on normal business” with the neighbouring country.

In Islamabad, Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik welcomed Chidambaram’s visit, saying it would give the two countries an opportunity to review “security threats to the region”.

“It will be a good opportunity to review the present security threats to the region,” Online news agency quoted Malik as saying.

“Pakistan attaches great importance to regional security and is prepared to cooperate and offer any assistance to secure regional peace,” he added.