The Tribune – Talks on Sir Creek from May 14; India, Pakistan to discuss counter-terrorism on May 24, 25

Tribune News Service

Islamabad, May 3. India and Pakistan are set to hold talks on two key issues later this month as part of the resumed dialogue process. Top officials will discuss the Sir Creek issue on May 14-16 in New Delhi while the Home/Interior secretaries will meet to discuss counter-terrorism in Islamabad on May 24-25, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Moazzam Khan said in Islamabad. This was subsequently confirmed by MEA spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin here.

Indications are that both countries consider the Sir Creek issue as one which can be resolved if there is political will on both sides. Even at their meeting in New Delhi earlier this month, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari had expressed the hope that the Sir Creek and Siachen issues were doable.

The Home/Interior secretaries are expected to sign the liberalised visa agreement between the two countries. The accord is likely to ease restrictions on travel and promote trade and economic relations.

India and Pakistan revived their peace process in February last year after a gap of over two years following the 26/11 Mumbai attack.

The two sides are said to be in touch with regard to dates for talks on the Siachen issue. Once they have completed talks on oustanding issues at the official level, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna will visit Islamabad in July to review the progress in the dialogue process.

Islamabad is hoping PM Singh will be able to visit Pakistan before the year end. Zardari had renewed Pakistan’s invitation to Singh during his recent visit to India. The Indian leader was born at Gah village (now in Pakistan).

India has hardened its stance on Siachen, says Kayani

Islamabad: Pakistan Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani contended on Thursday that India had hardened its position on the Siachen issue as compared to the 1989 stance it had adopted, saying that it “takes two hands to clap”. Speaking to the media during a visit to a high-altitude army camp in Siachen sector that was hit by an avalanche on April 7, Kayani said India had “toughened its stance” on the issue. India had earlier been demanding the approval of the boundary but now it had begun asking for the re-determination of positions, Kayani said. (PTI)

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120504/nation.htm#1

The Tribune – No time frame for PM’s Pakistan visit; Siachen talks soon

Ashok Tuteja, Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 11. Even as India and Pakistan work out dates for discussing the Siachen and Sir Creek issues, New Delhi is in no hurry to schedule the much-anticipated visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Pakistan before the end of the year.

The sense here is that the current government in Pakistan has about one-and-a-half year of its term left. If there is forward movement in the dialogue process, the visit could materialise without sticking to any time frame.

After his parleys with Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, the PM is believed to have got the impression that the civilian administration in Islamabad is taking steps, particularly on the trade front, which could help normalise ties with India.

In fact, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)-led government has made some such moves which have traditionally been difficult to deal with for any administration in Islamabad till Pakistan’s core concerns are addressed.

Therefore, the PM’s view is that there is “certain room to manoeuvre’’ with the current regime in Pakistan and India ought to explore it for giving a push to the dialogue process in the interest of better relations.

At his meeting with the PM, Zardari even wondered why India and Pakistan could not do in bilateral ties what India and China have done by putting contentious issues on the backburner and concentrating on trade and economic relations. His argument was apparently aimed at triggering a debate on it back home in Pakistan.

Meanwhile, India and Pakistan will make a fresh attempt to find a mutually acceptable solution to the Siachen issue when the defence secretaries of the two countries meet as part of the dialogue process.

Simultaneously, officials of the two countries are in touch to finalise dates for the meeting between the surveyor generals for discussing the Sir Creek issue.

It is understood that both the meetings will take place in late May or early June since External Affairs Minister S M Krishna is scheduled to travel to Islamabad in July to review the progress in the dialogue process at the end of the second round of talks.

Both the Siachen and Sir Creek issues had figured during Manmohan-Zardari talks here on Sunday. There is a feeling the two issues are ‘doable’.

On its part, India says it is willing to revisit a formula had been worked out a couple of years back to resolve the two issues.

Both India and Pakistan spend heavily to keep their military presence in Siachen, the world’s highest battlefield. The recent avalanche in which nearly 130 Pakistani army personnel were feared buried in the area has once again made the two countries realise the need to speedily resolve the Siachen issue.

India is also waiting for Islamabad’s response to the dates suggested by India in the third week of May for talks between the Home/Interior secretaries of the two countries in Islamabad to discuss the issue of terrorism.

Islamabad had proposed April 16 for the meeting but India said ‘no’ to it in view of a meeting of the Chief Ministers on internal security being held in New Delhi on that day.

Twin issues

- Both the Siachen and Sir Creek issues figured during Manmohan-Zardari talks on Sunday

- There is a feeling that the two issues are ‘doable’

- India says it is willing to revisit a formula worked out a couple of years ago

- India and Pakistan spend heavily to keep military presence in Siachen, the world’s highest battlefield

- The recent avalanche has made the two countries realise the need to speedily resolve the Siachen issue

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120412/main3.htm