New Delhi, Nov 30: Civil aviation officials from India and Pakistan will hold crucial talks here over the next two days to discuss the possibility of resuming bilateral air links amid positive developments after the ceasefire in Jammu and Kashmir. The talks come ahead of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's proposed visit to Islamabad in January for attending the Saarc summit.

Indian officials say the overflights issue could become easier to handle in the improved climate of bilateral relations in the wake of November 26 Eid-ul-Fitr ceasefire. The first round of talks on resuming air links were held at Rawalpindi in August. It ended in a failure as Pakistan insisted that India guarantee that there would be no ban on overflights if the two countries ever snapped civil aviation ties in the future.

If the talks are successful this time, there could be resumption of direct flights between Delhi-Lahore, Mumbai-Karachi and Delhi-Karachi.


New Delhi had suspended both direct air links and overflights between India and Pakistan after the December 13, 2001 attack on Parliament. Bureau Report