India, Pak diplomats discuss terrorism, trade

New Delhi, Nov 14: The issue of terrorism dominated the first day of the two-day talks today between Indian and Pakistani Foreign Secretaries who held 'very extensive discussions' on a wide variety of issues, putting the Composite Dialogue Process (CDP) back on track.

Many other issues, including Jammu and Kashmir, Confidence-Building Measures (CBMs), non-conventional security issues, trade and economy, travel and situation regarding the civilian prisoners and fishermen, came up at the four-hour meeting between Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon and his Pakistani counterpart Riaz Mohammad Khan.

''Very extensive discussions were held between the two delegations which caried on over working lunch. The two Foreign Secretaries also had the occasion to review the Composite Dialogue Process...Considerable amount of time was spent discussing the issue of terrorism in the light of the Havana spirit,'' External Affairs Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said while briefing reporters on the first day of deliberations.

The spokesman, while declining to give details about today's deliberations, said this was a meeting held to resume the dialogue which had not been held after the Mumbai bomb blasts. ''Several other CBMs were reviewed with the objective of pushing them forward for early implementation,'' the spokesman said.

''Travel, civilian prisoners, fishermen, non-conventional security issues, economic and trade relations also came up for discussion,'' the spokesman added.

Part of the discussions focussed on the declaration between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf at Havana in September on the sidelines of the NAM Summit.

The two leaders had at the Havana meeting proposed a Joint Mechanism on Terrorism to fight the scourge.

Today's meeting also covered terrorism and the Anti-terror Mechaism, Jammu and Kashmir, the CBMs particularly those which had been proposed and partly implemented acrossthe Line of Control (LOC) in the wake of the massive earthquake that shook parts of J and K and the Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK) claiming thousands of lives.

After the talks, the Pakistan Foreign Secretary and his delegation called on External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and apprised him of the discussions held during the day.

The External Affairs Minister underlined the fact that terrorism needed to be fought jointly. He also stressed the need to further act to fulfil the expectations of the people of both countries.

The meeting lasted 30 minutes.

Emerging from the meeting, the Pakistan Foreign Secretary said he had a ''good meeting'' with the External Affairs Minister.

The spokesman said the External Affairs Minister reviewed the discussions held by the two Foreign Secretaries during the day and gave his viewpoint that both countries should jointly fight terrorism. He welcomed the resumption of the Composite Dialogue Process (CDP) and recalled some of the achievements of the CDP.

The talks were held in a ''very positive atmosphere''between the two countries which was evident after the earthquake.

''It was a very detailed meeting held in positive and constructive atmosphere. Considerable amount of time was spent on discussing terrorism in the light of the Havana spirit,'' the spokesman said.

The discussions will resume tomorrow.

The talks which were to be held in July, were put on hold because of Mumbai bomb explosions which killed more than 180 people.

India accuses ISI of engineering the explosions and says it has evidence supporting its claims.

Some evidence is to be given to Pakistan at the talks, although it was not clear whether the evidence was given today when the issue of terrorism came up.

Siachen and Sir Creek issues were also expected to come up during the two days of deliberations, although no concrete progress is expected.

The Pakistan Foreign Secretary, leading a nine-member team, arrived here from Lahore last evening for the talks.

Immediately after his arival at the airport, he said he was looking forward to ''very constructive discussions.'' The Pakistani delegation comprises Additional Secretary (Asia Pacific) Akhtar Tufail, Additional Secretary (UN) Tariq Osman Hyder, Director-General (South Asia) Jalil Abbas Jilani, Director-General (UN) and spokesperson Tasnim Aslam, Director (India) Irfan Ahmad, Director (Kashmir Affairs), Mariam Aftab, Director (Foreign Secretary's Office) Moin-ul Haq and Assistant Director (India) Qamar Abbas.

The sources said the talks between the two Foreign Secretaries would be followed by a meeting of the Foreign Ministers sometime later.

However, details about the Foreign Ministers meeting had not been worked out yet.

UNI

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