The meeting of the working group on cross-Line of Control CBMs, earlier scheduled to be held on July 10, was postponed as Joint Secretary T C A Raghavan, who was to lead the Indian delegation, rushed to the Afghan capital after the suicide attack on the Indian embassy there on Monday last that killed 58 people.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be meeting his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of the SAARC Summit to be held in the Maldives next week.
India and Pakistan should make Kashmiris a party in the peace process, which was set in motion five years ago, according to the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front."Kashmir is not a border dispute between India and Pakistan that they will sit together and resolve it and thrust the decision on Kashmiris," JKLF Chairman Mohammad Yaseen Malik said. "We appeal to both India and Pakistan to make Kashmiris a party in the peace process aimed at resolving the Kashmir issue," he said.
This year saw no improvement in bilateral ties as India accused Pakistan of cross-border infiltration and re-activation of terror-launching pads near the LoC.
India and Pakistan will discuss measures to counter terrorism and exchange information to assist in investigations related to terrorist acts during a meeting in Islamabad on June 24.
After a six-month pause, India and Pakistan on Tuesday resumed their composite dialogue with the Foreign Secretaries meeting here to discuss various bilateral issues including terrorism, Kashmir and confidence building measures. Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon and his counterpart Salman Bashir held delegation level discussions to review the fourth round of composite dialogue. Kashmir, Siachen, Sir Creek and various confidence building measures were discussed.
Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee will call on Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad on Wednesday and discuss various aspects of bilateral relations including taking forward the Composite Dialogue Process.Mukherjee, who is scheduled to arrive in Islamabad later today for discussions with his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmoud Qureshi to take forward the CDP into the fifth round, would also meet Pakistani leaders Nawaz Sharif, Asif Ali Zardari.
The five-year-long ceasefire along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir was jolted on Tuesday evening, by an incident of firing by Pakistani troops, in the Tangdhar sector at northern Kashmir's Kupwara district.
Menon said he would not like to jump to any conclusion as to which terrorist group was behind the Jaipur bomb blasts. Asked if the government of India was taken by surprise by the series of bomb blasts that shook Jaipur on Tuesday night particularly when it came after firing from across the border from the Pakistani Rangers and the killing of innocent persons in Samba sector in Jammu resign, the foreign secretary said that peace and security would be high on the agenda.
Ahead of the five-day visit from tomorrow of Pakistan's commerce minister, Makhdoom M Amin Fahim, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on Sunday recommended that bilateral economic cooperation be promoted through a focus on healthcare, information technology and entertainment sectors.
