In an apparant change of stand on the eve of US assistant secretary of state Christina B Rocca`s visit to Islamabad, Pakistan on Thursday said it would shortly respond on merit to the pre-Agra summit confidence building measures (CBMs) announced by India. Pakistan officially received communications about CBMs announced by India before the summit. "We will respond to them on merit," foreign office spokesman Riaz Mohammad Khan told reporters here.
Islamabad has been so far cool in responding to the CBMs that included release of 229 fishermen, scholarships to Pakistan students, easing of restrictions on visa regime and a meeting between Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) of both the countries to discuss peace and security at the borders. Asked about president Pervez Musharraf`s assertion in his breakfast meeting with Indian editors in Agra as well as his post summit press conference in Islamabad that resolution of Kashmir is the biggest CBM, Khan said the measures taken by India were conveyed to Pakistan only now and it would respond appropriately after examining them.

Sources in the Indian High Commission, when contacted, said the official documents announcing the CBMs had been sent to the Pakistan government before the Agra summit. Bureau Report