Islamabad: Senior Indian and Pakistani
officials will meet here during December 26-27 for talks on
nuclear and conventional confidence-building measures as part
of the bilateral dialogue process.
This will be the first meeting of the Joint Working Group
on nuclear and conventional CBMs in over four years though
other officials, including the two Foreign Secretaries, have
discussed these issues in recent meetings in Islamabad and New
Delhi, diplomatic sources said.
Among the issues that are expected to be discussed at the
upcoming meeting 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.
This too is likely to come up at next week's meeting.
The Indian side at the upcoming meeting will include
diplomats who handle issues related to Pakistan and
disarmament.
The Pakistani side will be led by an Additional Secretary
of the Foreign Office.
The Joint Working Group on nuclear and conventional CBMs
had last met in October 2007.
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 that was carried out by Pakistan-based
Lashkar-e-Taiba.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, December 22, 2011, 16:19