Islamabad, April 5
Pakistan today proposed two-day talks
next month with India on nuclear confidence-building measures (CBM) in pursuance
of the road map worked out by the foreign secretaries of the two
countries.
“Pakistan has proposed May 25 and 26 as the dates for hosting
expert-level talks to discuss nuclear confidence-building measures,” a brief
statement by the Pakistan Foreign Office said here.
It said the proposal was in
pursuance of the road map worked out by the foreign secretaries of both the
countries on February 18 for resumption of composite dialogue to discuss Kashmir
and other contentious issues,
The dates for the talks on nuclear CBMs were
conveyed to Indian Deputy High Commissioner T.C.A. Raghanvan by the
Director-General for South Asia in the Pakistan Foreign Office, Mr Jalili Abbas
Jilani.
Pakistan and India have already been implementing some of the nuclear
CBMs agreed to under an MoU signed along with the Lahore Accord.
The MoU
included holding regular bilateral consultations on security issues and nuclear
doctrines, informing each other in advance about ballistic missile tests,
measures to deal with incidents borne out of accidents etc.
Under the road map
agreed by the two countries to hold the composite dialogue, the foreign
secretaries would meet in May/June this year for talks on peace and security,
including CBMs and Jammu and Kashmir.
The expert-level talks on the nuclear
CBMs would be a prelude to the proposed talks of the foreign secretaries.
The
communication from the Pakistan Foreign Office came as the officials of the two
countries were gearing up for technical-level talks to run bus services between
Srinagar and Muzafarabad, the capital of Pakistan occupied Kashmir, scheduled
for April 9 and 10.
The expert-level talks on nuclear CBMs, along with talks
between border security officials on drug trafficking and smuggling were in
addition to the eight-point agenda for composite dialogue agreed to by both the
countries in the Foreign Secretary-level talks here in February.
The other
items for the composite dialogue included talks by concerned officials on
Siachen, Wullur Barrage, Sir Creek, terrorism and drug trafficking, economic and
commercial cooperation and promotion of friendly exchanges in various fields.
— PTI
