Islamabad: Senior Indian and Pakistani officials on Monday began two-day talks on nuclear and
conventional confidence-building measures here as part of the
peace process between the two countries.
This is the first meeting of the Joint Working Group on
nuclear and conventional CBMs since October 2007 though other
officials, including the two Foreign Secretaries, have
discussed these issues in recent meetings in Islamabad and New
Delhi, diplomatic sources said.
Today`s discussions will focus on conventional CBMs while
nuclear issues will be taken up tomorrow.
Among the issues that are expected to be discussed are
CBMs related to Jammu and Kashmir and missile tests and steps
to boost cross-LoC trade and travel, the sources said.
In an apparent bid to strengthen its case for access to
civil nuclear technology, Pakistan has been pressing the issue
of civil nuclear cooperation with India, including a proposal
to discuss measures to cope with a Fukushima-like situation,
the sources said.
The 10-member Indian delegation includes diplomats who
handle issues related to Pakistan and disarmament. D Bala
Verma, Director General (disarmament and international
security affairs) is leading the group on nuclear CBMs while
Yashwant K Sinha, Joint Secretary (Pakistan, Afghanistan and
Iran) heads the group on conventional CBMs. The Pakistani side
is led by Additional Secretary Munawar Saeed Bhatti.
This is the fifth round of expert-level talks on
conventional CBMs and the sixth round on nuclear CBMs. The
decision to re-convene the two groups was made when the two
Foreign Secretaries met here in June this year.
India and Pakistan resumed their dialogue process early
this year after a gap of over two years in the wake of the
2008 Mumbai attacks, which were blamed on the Pakistan-based
Lashkar-e-Toiba.
PTI
