India, Pakistan talks open in New Delhi

Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao met her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir at the Hyderabad House in New Delhi on Thursday to kick off a dialogue between the two countries after a hiatus of 14 months. India had suspended the composite dialogue with Pakistan after the terror attack on Mumbai on November 26, 2008, which was planned and carried out by Pakistani terrorists.

Nirupama Rao greeted Salman Bashir, and posed for photographs shaking hands. The two along with their delegations then sat down for talks, aimed at breaking the deadlock in bilateral ties.

"We look forward to our talks," Rao told reporters outside Hyderabad House. "Hyderabad House is a familiar venue. We look forward to a very, good constructive arrangement," a smiling Bashir added before going inside for the talks.

Besides Rao, the Indian team included India's High Commissioner to Islamabad Sharat Sabharwal, joint secretary in charge of Pakistan Y.K. Sinha, Ministry of external affairs (MEA) spokesperson Vishnu Prakash and other officials of the MEA.

The Pakistani delegation comprised Afrasiab, Director-general of the South Asia division and a former Deputy high commissioner to India, Pakistan's High Commissioner Shahid Malik, Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesperson Abdul Basit and other senior officials.

The delegation-level talks that began around 11 a.m. are expected to last at least two hours. Rao will host a lunch for the Pakistani delegation.

The two sides have made it clear that although they have their differing core concerns, they are going into these crucial talks with "an open mind".

For India, the core concern is terrorism and the alleged use of Pakistani territory by anti-India terror outfits, but it is willing to discuss other issues. Pakistan has made it clear that it will focus on the Kashmir dispute and other issues like sharing of river waters.

The Pakistani delegation will also call on National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon, a former foreign secretary and a former Indian envoy to Islamabad, on Thursday evening. On Friday morning, the Pakistanis will call on External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna before heading back to Islamabad.

The outcome of the talks is expected to determine the future trajectory of engagement between the two neighbours. Indian and Pakistani leaders met at Sharm-el-Sheikh in Egypt last year. But this is the first structured dialogue since the Mumbai attack in November 2008 that put the brakes on the composite dialogue between the two countries.

While India has repeatedly stressed that tackling terrorism emanating from Pakistan would be the top-most agenda of the talks, Islamabad is determined to bring up the contentious issue of Kashmir and the river water sharing row. Minister of State in External Affairs Ministry Preneet Kaur told newsmen India will take up the issue of infiltration from across the border in the talks.

While Pakistan has maintained a high-pitched rhetoric about the talks, claiming it was India which approached it to resume the dialogue, New Delhi has slammed Pakistan over the rise in infiltration and its inability to control terror outfits.

India will also reportedly ask for access to Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Jamaat-ud-Dawaa chief Hafiz Saeed, who were instrumental in planning the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, which claimed 166 lives.

Meanwhile, among the first items on Pakistan Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir’s agenda as he arrived in Delhi on Wednesday was separate meetings with the two Hurriyat factions. And these ended with an invitation from Bashir to both to visit Pakistan.

Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Omer Farooq said Bashir had told them that Kashmir would be part of the agenda for the talks. Hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani was assured that the new dispensation in Islamabad would not go by former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf’s four-point proposals on Kashmir.

“I was told that Pakistan would approach the negotiations on Kashmir afresh, guided by its traditional stand on the state,” Geelani said. “Kashmir, I was told, would be the core part of the talks with India, with every effort being made for a settlement according to the wishes of Kashmiris.”

- Asian Tribune -