Indo-Pak Home Secretary-level talks commenced

Islamabad, Nov 25 : The fifth round of Home Secretary level talks between India and Pakistan on terrorism, drug trafficking and related issues commenced in Islamabad on Tuesday as a part of the composite dialogue process.

Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta led the Indian delegation, while Secretary, Ministry of Interior Syed Kamal Shah, headed the Pakistan delegation.

The talks would continue on Wednesday also.

Wide-ranging issues were discussed during the meet. One of the outcomes of today's talks was the initializing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on drug demand reduction and prevention of illicit trafficking of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and precursor chemicals and related matters. This will further strengthen bilateral cooperation in this field.

These talks are taking place in the backdrop of recently initiated cross-LoC trade, which is being seen as a big step towards bringing both countries closer.

Gupta had said on Monday before leaving for Islamabad that New Delhi expected proactive cooperation from Islamabad in dealing with security matters.

He said the whole purpose was to try and see that there could be improvement in relations across a wide range of issues and one of the elements of the composite dialogue related to security matters.

The nuclear-armed rivals' 'composite dialogue' covers eight areas including the Kashmir, border disputes, terrorism and economic cooperation.

The last Home Secretary level talks were held in July last year in New Delhi.

ANI