New Delhi, October 13
India and Pakistan today set in motion the process of an intense dialogue between the National Security Advisers (NSA) of the two countries on various outstanding issues at which New Delhi is understood to have inquired from Islamabad whether it had made any progress in the investigations into the July 7 suicide bomb attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul.
New Delhi also conveyed to the Pakistani side its serious concern over the increase in border ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops in recent months.
With an upsurge in terrorist violence in recent months, the two countries are learnt to have discussed ways in which they could activate the joint anti-terror mechanism, formed about two years ago but has made little headway.
NSA MK Narayanan for the first time held official-level talks with his Pakistani counterpart Mahmud Ali Durrani on a wide range of bilateral issues. Sources said the talks were inconclusive and the two NSAs would meet again tomorrow. Durrani, a trusted lieutenant of Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, is scheduled to meet PM Manmohan Singh, external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee and BJP president Rajnath Singh tomorrow before returning home on Wednesday.
The Indian side is understood to have asked Islamabad if it had conducted an independent probe into the embassy bombing as promised by Pakistan PM Yousaf Raza Gilani during the SAARC summit in Colombo in August.
The meetings between the NSAs came within a fortnight of the talks the Indian Prime Minister had with the Pakistani President in New York at which Islamabad reassured New Delhi that it was committed to its January 2004 promise that it would not allow misuse of the Pakistani territory for anti-India activities.
