New Delhi: The government on Wednesday said
"track II" talks with Pakistan includes issues like Jammu and
Kashmir and are not official in nature.
"There are informal channels of communication between
India and Pakistan, also referred to as track II in popular
parlance...These meetings, which take place on a broad range
of subjects, including Jammu and Kashmir, are not official in
nature," Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur
told the Lok Sabha in reply to a question.
Answering to a separate question, she said government
was aware about attempts to use members of minority
communities from Pakistan for "actions prejudicial to national
security".
Noting that the government saw reports about minority
groups including Hindus and Sikhs being subjected to "unfair
treatment in the neighbouring country", she said India had
taken up the matter with Pakistan.
"The government of Pakistan stated that it was fully
cognizant of the situation and looked after the welfare of all
its citizens, particularly the minority community," she said.
Kaur said 193 Hindus from Pakistan are currently
residing in Jalandhar and all of them have applied for Indian
citizenship.
"Out of these, 10 people have already been granted
Indian citizenship, and the cases of remaining 183 people for
grant of Indian citizenship are pending with the government,"
she said.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, December 08, 2010, 18:50