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India, Pakistan Home secretary-level talks in May at Islamabad
NEW DELHI: Home secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan, which have been in the pipeline since December last year, will take place in Islamabad late May.New Delhi has asked Islamabad to give fresh dates for talks - sometime after May 22 when the budget session of Parliament concludes. Pakistan had earlier offered to host the meeting in the later half of April and asked New Delhi to inform it whether the period suits India.
Times of India newspaper quoting sources here said April dates did not suit India due to many reasons including forthcoming internal security conference of chief ministers on April 16 and parliamentary budget session which would resume after the ongoing break on April 24. "Besides, there are number of other important meetings lined up including chief ministers' conference to discuss issues concerning NCTC on May 5. Therefore, it is decided to opt for some dates in late May", a source said.
Earlier, India had proposed Home secretary level talks in December but Islamabad could not give its consent. There was also indication that talks could take place only after visit of Pakistani Commission to Mumbai in connection with 26\11 terror attack case probe. Pakistan panel visited Mumbai last month.
If Home secretary-level meeting takes place, this will be the first between Home secretary R K Singh and his Pakistani counterpart K Siddique Akbar. The last such talks had taken place between the two countries in New Delhi in March, 2011. (PPI)
Courtesy www.geo.tv