Dates for next round of Indo-Pak talks soon By Rezaul H Laskar

Islamabad, Nov 10 (PTI) The schedule for the fifth round
of the Indo-Pak Composite Dialogue is likely to be announced
within two weeks, diplomatic sources said here Monday.

Officials from the two countries are finalising dates for
the fifth round of parleys under the dialogue process launched
in 2004 and an announcement of the schedule could be made
within 15 days, they said.

The sources told PTI that the Pakistani side is hopeful
of a breakthrough on the Sir Creek maritime boundary dispute
as the two sides have been able to narrow their differences on
this issue to a "large extent".

The two countries have conducted a joint survey of the
marshy area along the coast in Gujarat and also exchanged
maps.

The sources said the two sides wanted to round off the
fifth round of the composite dialogue as soon as possible to
offset the delay in the fourth round last year due to the
domestic political situation in Pakistan.

The dialogue process was affected by protests against
former President Pervez Musharraf and the domestic political
turmoil in the run-up to the elections held in February this
year.

Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon and his Pakistani
counterpart Salman Bashir met in New Delhi on July 21 to
revive the composite dialogue.

The two sides had then focussed on peace and security,
the Kashmir issue and implementation of various conventional,
nuclear and cross-Line of Control confidence-building
measures.

Pakistan has also been pushing for progress in resolving
the 14-year-old military standoff on the Saichen glacier,
described as the world's highest and coldest battlefield. Guns
have fallen silent on the glacier since a ceasefire came into
effect along the boundaries in Jammu and Kashmir in late 2003.

The two countries could also take up more Kashmir-related
C.B.Ms during the forthcoming talks, sources said. India and
Pakistan has recently launched trans-LoC trade as a major
C.B.M. PTI R.H.L.
RKM
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