India, Pakistan aim to continue dialogue

New Delhi, July 16: India and Pakistan are in talks to continue their resumed dialogue, an official said on Monday.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's special envoy Shaharyar Khan had met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh earlier this month and top Indian officials.

"He has gone back with understanding of our views on this," said external affairs ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin at a briefing here Monday.

"And we will now take it up when we receive a response from Pakistan on that. As you are aware, the third round of the resumed dialogue started sometime in September with the meeting of the commerce secretaries."

"Another meeting was scheduled I think for the Wullar Barrage; that did not happen. That is the meeting which needs to be taken forward along with various other meetings in the resumed dialogue format. We are in discussions through diplomatic channels for those," he said.

Shaharyar Khan met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh July 5 and delivered a letter conveying Islamabad's "sincere desire to move forward on improving relations with India".

He also met National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon and Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai.

The resumed dialogue had started in September 2012, with the meetings of the commerce secretaries.

Meetings relating to the Tulbul Navigation Project and the Wullar Barrage were scheduled for February this year, but could not be held as the Indian lead negotiator was unable to continue as he was retiring at the end of January, the spokesperson had said at an earlier briefing.

India had requested fresh dates. "Those were the only two elements of the resumed dialogue that were agreed on," he had said.

IANS