India, Pak to discuss Kashmir during Foreign Secretaries' meet

Islamabad, Jul 19 (PTI) Pakistan and India will explore
the prospects of a "just and peaceful" resolution to the
Kashmir problem and focus on issues of peace and security when
their Foreign Secretaries meet next week in New Delhi, the
government here said Saturday.

The fifth round of the Composite Dialogue process will be
kicked off when Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon and his
Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir meet on July 21 to discuss
peace and security, including confidence-building measures,
and the Kashmir issue -- two of the eight subjects that are
part of the dialogue.

"During the talks, both sides will look into the
prospects of a just and peaceful resolution of the Jammu and
Kashmir dispute. The talks will also focus on the issues of
peace and security," said a statement issued by Pakistan's
Foreign Office.

"Implementation of various conventional, nuclear and
cross-Line of Control confidence-building measures will be
reviewed and possible new CBMs will be discussed," it said.

The statement also said the meeting will "provide an
opportunity for the two foreign secretaries to discuss other
areas of bilateral cooperation".

Official sources said some decisions made at the meeting
of the Pakistan-India Working Group on cross-LoC
confidence-building measures, which was held here Friday,
would be announced by the foreign secretaries.

The meeting of foreign secretaries has been curtailed to
one day from two days because of Indian government's pre-
occupation with a crucial trust vote in Parliament on July 22.

The talks will also be held against the backdrop of
allegations by Afghanistan that Pakistani intelligence
agencies were involved in the recent suicide attack on the
Indian embassy in Kabul that killed nearly 60 people.