Pak Foreign Minister to visit India on Wednesday

New Delhi, Nov 24 (PTI) In the backdrop of positive
atmospherics recently, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood
Qureshi will undertake a four-day visit here from Wednesday
during which the two sides will review the Composite Dialogue
and consider more confidence-building measures.

Qureshi will hold talks with External Affairs Minister
Pranab Mukherjee on a whole range of issues including
terrorism, Kashmir, Siachen, Sir Creek, trade and river water
sharing.

After opening the Line of Control for trade last month,
the two sides are expected to look at more CBMs like expanding
the pilgrim places that can be visited by people of the other
country.

The 2007 blast on cross-border Samjhauta Express is also
expected to figure in the talks, with the Pakistani side
likely to raise the matter in view of investigators in India
reportedly suggesting involvement of some Hindu groups in the
attack as against the Pakistan-based elements as suspected
earlier.

The talks are taking place in the backdrop of positive
statements by the Pakistani leadership, including President
Asif Ali Zardari who promised on Saturday not to use nuclear
weapons against India first and talked about reconciliation to
build the bilateral ties.

Cross-border infiltration has also witnessed a decline
over the past few months and two phases of polling in Jammu
and Kashmir have been violence-free, which New Delhi says
augur well for pushing the peace process.

New Delhi feels that the meeting between Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh and Zardari in New York in September had marked
a change in Islamabad's attitude, providing positive impetus
to the relations that had witnessed a low after the July 7
attack on Indian embassy in Kabul.

Violence-free polling in Jammu and Kashmir, despite
campaign by separatist Hurriyat Conference against the
elections, is seen here as an indication of Pakistan's
"hands-off" approach, that is something new.

Another indicator of the change in Pakistan's attitude is
that Islamabad did not deny, unlike in the past, the country's
role in the Kabul embassy attack during the Joint Anti-Terror
Mechanism (JATM) meeting held here last month, sources said.

At the JATM, Islamabad said it would look into the matter
if evidence is given by New Delhi, moving from its earlier
position that its investigation had found no Pakistani
involvement, they said.

New Delhi, however, is keeping its fingers crossed as it
wants to see whether Islamabad's positive vibes are temporary
or long-term.

Trade has also witnessed a boom, touching a high of USD
2.6 billion dollars officially as compared to about 300
million dollars three years back. Volume of unofficial trade,
via a third country, is as high as USD six billion dollars.

Though Pakistan has not granted transit facility to
Indian goods intended for Afghanistan, items are crossing
through Pakistan, particularly Karachi port.

Expecting the Pakistani side to raise the Samjhauta
Express blast issue, the Indian side will emphasise that the
new developments indicate that this country follows "open"
investigations, irrespective of who is involved.

The blast on the train in Panipat, in which about 60
travellers from India and Pakistan were killed, had created
tension between the two countries. PTI AKK
DEP
NNNN