Pakistan, India to discuss peace process in May

NEW DELHI—Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Indian External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee will hold review meeting on fourth round of Composite Dialogue in Islamabad on May 21. Prior to the meeting, Pakistan Foreign Secretary Riaz Muhammed Khan and Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon will hold review meeting on the fourth round on May 20 in Islamabad. Though the fourth round concluded last year but the wrap up meetings could not be held due to developments in Pakistan.
This will be first contact between the two countries since then and review meetings will set the tone for the fifth round of Composite Dialogue. Eight subjects are covered under the dialogue including Kashmir, Siachen, Sir Creek, security, trade and Confidential Building Measures.
According to an announcement made by the Indian External Affairs Ministry on Wednesday, Pranab Mukherjee and Shivshankar Menon will travel to Pakistan for holding review meetings on May 20 and 21. Meanwhile, the Indian Petroleum Minister Murli Deora will travel to Pakistan on April 23 to hold talks on Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project with his Pakistani counterpart Khawaja Asif to iron out differences on the issue of transit fee. “I will visit Pakistan sometime this month to hold talks and hope to wrap up the issue of transit fee and related matters as soon as possible and sign a formal agreement to make the project happen,” he said. The Indian Chapter of Pak-India Judicial Committee comprising retired judges will also travel to Pakistan this month to visit Pakistani jails to meet Indian prisoners The Indian chapter of the Committee comprises Justice (Retd) Mr. Nagendra Rai, Justice (Retd) Mr. Amarjeet Choudhary, Justice (Retd) Mr. A.S. Gill and Justice (Retd) and Mr. M..A. Khan.
Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee will visit Pakistan next month for a review of a four-year-old peace process between the two nuclear-armed neighbours, the Pakistani foreign ministry said on Wednesday.
Mukherjee’s May 21 visit will be the first by an Indian minister since the formation of a new government in Islamabad led by the Pakistan People’s Party of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. Foreign secretaries will meet on May 20 to prepare the ground for talks between Mukherjee and Pakistan’s new Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, a brief statement from the ministry said.
Pakistan and India have fought three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947, and came close to a fourth in 2002. A peace process was launched by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in 2004. While the relationship between the two countries has considerably improved, they have made little progress in resolving their territorial dispute over the Himalayan region of Kashmir. The peace process was put on a slow track over the past year as Pakistan passed through a phase of intense political turmoil, culminating in the defeat of pro-Musharraf parties in a parliamentary election two months ago.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last month offered to meet Pakistan’s new leaders “halfway” to put the past behind and build a new relationship based on cooperation and enduring peace. “I would like to assure the newly elected leadership of Pakistan that we seek good relations with Pakistan,” Singh has told India’s parliament.
Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan will next month review the fourth round of a slow-moving peace process launched in 2004, the Pakistani foreign ministry said Wednesday.
The meeting in Islamabad will be the first major talks between the South Asian neighbours since Pakistan’s new government came to power after defeating allies of President Pervez Musharraf in February elections. India and Pakistan have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947, two of them over the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir, but they launched a wide-ranging peace dialogue four years ago.—Agencies