There are now signals emanating from India that they are willing to talk bilaterally: Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office said on Thursday it had sought clarification from New Delhi of its proposal for talks at the level of foreign secretaries.
 
A senior foreign ministry official told our correspondent that clarifications had been sought about the content and agenda of the proposed talks.

India has proposed a meeting between foreign secretaries of the two countries, but has suggested no agenda.

Diplomatic observers here are of the opinion that India would like the talks to focus on terrorism as against Pakistan’s desire of resumption of full-scale Composite Dialogue which was suspended after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

However, the proposal is seen here as a sign of thaw in relations between the two countries.

“If India dispenses with its traditional inflexibility there is a possibility of moving ahead,” FO spokesman Abdul Basit said, alluding to India’s hard-line stance of talking to Pakistan only on terrorism-related issues.

“Pakistan has always believed that it is only through genuine and meaningful talks that Pakistan and India can resolve their bilateral disputes. Talks should be all-encompassing and result-oriented. We will, therefore, welcome resumption of the Composite Dialogue,” he said.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told TV channels that depending on the response to Pakistan’s queries from India, Islamabad would like an early resumption of talks. “We would like to restart from where we left off,” he said, referring to the Composite Dialogue whose fifth round had started in July 2008 before being stalled.

“There are now signals emanating from India that they are willing to talk bilaterally,” Mr Qureshi told Reuters. “We welcome this … if it leads to resumption of the Composite Dialogue.”

Talking to a foreign news agency, the FO spokesman denied the government had been informed officially about Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram’s visit to Pakistan to attend a conference of South Asian interior ministers scheduled for Feb 26 and 27.

“We have not received a final communication nor is there any information with South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) secretariat about the visit,” Mr Basit said. “We have just seen reports in the newspaper about the visit but still don’t know officially about it,” he added.

It is expected that the visit of Mr Chidambaram will set off fresh talks. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and his Indian counterpart Dr Manmohan Singh are likely to meet on the sidelines of a Saarc summit to be held on April 28 and 29 in Bhutan.

JUDICIAL COMMISSION
Sources said India had also agreed to revive the Judicial Commission on Prisoners. Prime Minister Gilani had sought the commission’s restoration in December while announcing the release of 100 Indian fishermen on humanitarian grounds.

The commission, which had taken several steps for speedy release of the prisoners, besides assisting in resolving their problems, remained suspended after the Mumbai attacks.

AFP adds: A senior government source in New Delhi said on Thursday that India had proposed foreign secretary-level talks with Pakistan.

The proposal marks a significant shift on the Indian side which until now has steadfastly refused to resume talks until Pakistan brings those behind the Mumbai attacks to justice and cracks down on militant groups operating on its soil.

“India will enter these discussions with an open mind,” the source said.

“We will raise all relevant issues from our side. Counter-terrorism will be raised, as well as other issues that will contribute to creating an atmosphere of peace and stability between the two countries. Let us not pre-judge the outcome,” the source added.

India and Pakistan launched a peace dialogue in 2004 that helped to significantly lower tensions between the two countries — most notably over the disputed region of Kashmir. But that was broken off after the Mumbai attacks.

Observers said foreign secretary-level talks would not amount to a resumption of the full “composite” dialogue initiated in 2004, but they would be a large step in that direction.

While the international community has generally lauded the Indian government for showing restraint in the wake of the Mumbai attacks, pressure has been growing in recent months for New Delhi to re-engage with Islamabad given the fraught situation in Afghanistan.

The United States, battling the Taliban in Afghanistan, is keen for the two rivals to keep the rest of the region trouble-free.

Uday Bhaskar, head of the National Maritime Foundation, a New Delhi-based strategic affairs think-tank, said India always knew that a resumption of dialogue was inevitable.

“The fact is that India must engage with Pakistan. Both geography and the nature of Indo-Pak relations don’t allow us the luxury to remain unengaged,” Bhaskar said.

Kalim Bahadur, a retired professor of Indo-Pakistan studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University, said India’s offer of talks would “no doubt” be welcomed by the international community, but added that it would be greeted with some confusion at home.

“The Indian government seemed insistent that positive action would have to be made by Pakistan before dialogue can restart,” Bahadur said.

“Now suddenly it appears that a lot of progress has been made which was not visible to the common man in India. India has sprung such surprises in the past, only to regret it later on,” he said.