Indo-Pakistan Home Secretary-level talks end

New Delhi, Jul 4: India and Pakistan have finalised a Protocol on providing consular access to civilian prisoners held in either country and reiterated commitment to combat terrorism.

At the fourth round of the Home Secretary-level talks held here, the two countries also agreed that the committee of judges, formed to identify the civilian prisoners, would meet every three months in either country under an institutionalised arrangement.

The decision to form a Committee of Judges was announced on January 14 in Islamabad following talks betrween External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and his Pakistani counterpart Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri.

The Committee would visit jails in the two countries and propose steps to ensure humane treatment and expedite release of prisoners who have complete their prison terms.

The two-day Home Secretary-level talks which began yesterday under the Composite Dialogue Process (CDP), ended abruptly last night as Pakistan's Interior Secretary Syed Kamal Shah had to rush back home in view of the Lal Masjid developments in the Pakistani capital.

While the 17-member Pakistani delegation was led by Mr Shah, Union Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta led the 11-member Indian side.

After day-long discussions with the Indian side, the Pakistani Interior Secretary was closetted in an ''internal meeting'' till late last night, Pakistan embassy sources said.

Mr Shah later left by a private airline to Amritsar from where he crossed the Wagah border at about 0200 hrs, the sources added.

Talks could not be held today and a Joint Statement was prepared last night.

The sources said that even though the talks ended ''abruptly,'' ''lot of progress'' was made and the Pakistani side left on a ''positive note.'' Progress was made on most issues including combating terrorism. However, no agreement could be reached on liberalising the visa regime, the sources said.

The Joint Statement said ''detailed discussions took place on the draft Visa Agreement. Considerable progress was made in finalising some of the provisions.'' The two countries had agreed on January 14 in Islamabad to expedite the liberalisation of the Visa Regime and complete the work in February 2007.

The issue of terrorism dominated the discussions with both sides agreeing to take ''effective and sustained measures'' to combat the scourge. The two countries have also constituted an Anti-Terror Mechanism which held its first meeting in Islamabad on March six.

The Anti-Terror Mechanism was constituted following a decision taken during the meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf at Havana in Cuba in September, 2006, on the sidelines of the NAM Summit.

According to the Joint statement issued today, India reiterated concern relating to terrorism and fugitives.

It was agreed that effective and sustained measures would be taken to combat terrorism and that terrorists and criminals in either country would be effectively dealt with.

The two sides also agreed to enhance cooperation between CBI and FIA in checking human trafficking, illegal immigration and smuggling of counterfeit currency.

The nodal points in both the agencies would meet periodically to facilitate early action on Interpol related cases.

It was also agreed that all fishermen would be released by August 14-15 and that fishing boats in each other's custody would also be released.

Uptil now, even though fishermen were released by both countries, boats and trawlers were not.

Efforts would be made by both sides to reconcile the number and identities of prisoners in each other's jails and that all prisoners who have completed their sentences, would also be released by August 14-15.

It was agreed that a Memorandum of Unserstanding (MoU) on Narcotics Control between the two agencies could be signed in the near future.

UNI

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