M A I N   N E W S

India, Pakistan Foreign Secretaries to meet in Dhaka
Rajeev Sharma
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 25
Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran will meet his Pakistani counterpart Riaz Mohammed Khan on the margins of SAARC Standing Committee in Dhaka on July 31 and August 1, but the talks will not be substantive.

This correspondent understands that though the Pakistani Foreign Secretary would be keen on having a meatier, bilateral discussion, Mr Saran is unlikely to hold a deep-focus meeting. The Indian Foreign Secretary is most certainly not going to oblige by holding meaningful talks on the stalled Indo-Pak dialogue.

The leads already available from ongoing investigations into the July 7 Mumbai blasts have put Pakistani agencies in the dock, despite vehement denials from Islamabad. Besides, Indian Parliament is in session and it would be highly imprudent for the UPA government to fix fresh dates for the postponed Foreign Secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri had last week said in a television interview that the Indo-Pak Foreign Secretaries might agree on fresh dates for the Secretary-level talks. This correspondent understands that Mr Kasuri is being too optimistic.

The Government of India’s stand on the future of Indo-Pak peace process has been eloquently stated by Mr Saran himself. On July 15, on the eve of the Prime Minister’s visit to St Petersburg for G-8 summit, Mr Saran had said at a media briefing that incidents like July 11 did undermine the Indo-Pak peace process.

No infiltration into IAF

Pak arrests Lashkar man

Lahore, July 25
Pakistan has arrested a suspected member of the outlawed Lashkar-e-Taiba, officials said today, but they made no reference to suspicions in India that the group was involved in bomb blasts in Mumbai earlier this month. Mohammad Shahzad was brought to the capital Islamabad today. — Reuters