Islamabad, Dec 02: Pakistan today confirmed that it had received from the Indian High Commission the proposal to hold talks on December 18 and 19 to discuss the resumption of rail links including the Samjhauta Express and said it was considering a response. Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan said Pakistan did not foresee any problem to accept the proposal. He, however, did not say when Pakistan would give its response.
Khan was quoted by the official media here as saying that Pakistan in the recent past offered to hold the talks four times, but there was no response from India.
Officials of both the countries foresee no problems in restoring the rail links as Pakistan has removed a major irritant by lifting the ban on Indian over-flights flying through Pakistan skies.
India earlier linked the restoration of rail links to lifting of ban on over flights. Now that the talks on resumption of airlinks had successfully concluded, the two were expected to resume the train services around the same time they begin air-links in early January.
Bureau Report