India, Pak Foreign Secys hold talks
Bid to break deadlock

DURBAN, Aug 30 (PTI) — The Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan today held "lengthy discussions" on the sidelines of a preparatory session of the NAM summit in a bid to break the deadlock over the resumption of the stalled dialogue process.

"They have held lengthy discussions at the Indian headquarters here, but I am not in a position to give you the details", an Indian spokesman said after the talks between Foreign Secretary K. Raghunath and his Pakistani counterpart Shamshad Ahmed.

This was the first meeting between the two officials after their talks failed on the modalities for the resumption of the dialogue in Colombo in July with Pakistan insisting on discussing the Kashmir issue first while India wanting the commencement of the negotiation process "on the basis of a broadbased and composite approach."

After the failure of the Colombo talks, India had slammed Pakistan for its "obsessive and neurotic" focus on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir.

Briefing reporters after today’s talks, the spokesman Mr Dilip Lehri, said it was not yet certain whether there would be any bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistan Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz, who would be representing his country at the NAM summit in the absence of Premier Nawaz Sharif.

Mr Vajpayee and Mr Sharif were originally slated to meet on the sidelines of the summit beginning September 2.

However, Mr Sharif, who is facing a barrage of protests for his alleged involvement in the US missile attacks on Afghanistan, cancelled his visit at the last moment citing "pressing engagements" at home.

Mr Vajpayee yesterday said he was disappointed at the cancellation of Mr Sharif’s visit and hoped to meet his Pakistani counterpart in New York next month.

ISLAMABAD: Although Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's last-minute cancellation of trip to the NAM summit is seen as a setback to the revival of talks with India, Islamabad has said it will press for early resumption of the dialogue.

The foreign ministers of the two countries were expected to meet on the sidelines of the summit in South Africa and might discuss a strategy to resume the talks, official sources said.

The Pakistani Foreign Minister Mr Sartaj Aziz, who left for Durban on Saturday as the head of his country's delegation to the summit, said: "We are ready to resume talks at the earliest".

Mr Aziz said Pakistan was ready to hold talks with India in any third country and referred to the offer by several nations of a neutral venue for the dialogue.

"Pakistan appreciates the world community for focusing on the root cause of tension and the necessity to find out a just settlement of the Kashmir dispute which alone can promote peace and stability in nuclearised South Asia," he declared.

Confirming the cancellation of the Prime Minister's proposed trip to Durban, Mr Aziz said he would discuss with NAM leaders a host of global, regional and bilateral issues, focusing on peace and security in nuclearised South Asia.

Mr Aziz said that in his bilateral meetings, he would brief his counterparts about the latest situation in Kashmir.

The NAM trip is Mr Aziz's first major assignment since he took over as Foreign Minister.

The proposed Vajpayee-Sharif meeting in Durban had raised hopes of an early resumption of the Foreign Secretary-level talks after the disappointing outcome of the last meeting of the two prime ministers on the sidelines of the SAARC summit in Colombo.