Aug 27 , 2015
News
Rangers, BSF to meet in New Delhi from Sept 9-13
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani and Indian border security force chiefs will meet in New Delhi next month, officials said on Wednesday, days after the first high-level peace talks in years between the two countries collapsed.
The chiefs of the Pakistan Rangers and the Indian Border Security Force will meet in New Delhi from Sept 9 to 13, according to a statement by the Pakistan Rangers.
Representatives from the two paramilitary border forces held a meeting on Tuesday at the Wagah-Attari border “to coordinate modalities of (the) September meeting”, the statement said. The agenda for the meeting would include recent firing over the Line of Control, the de facto frontier in the divided Kashmir region, as well as cross-border smuggling, Pakistan Rangers spokesman Waheed Bukhari told Reuters. Indian officials were not immediately available to confirm the meeting. On Saturday, the first high-level peace talks in years between the two country’s national security advisers were cancelled after a dispute over the agenda for those talks.
The September meeting will follow days of bickering between India and Pakistan, as the Pakistani government on Saturday decided to cancel the planned meeting of national security advisers with India, citing New Delhi’s refusal to allow an expanded agenda and a meeting with Kashmiri leaders.
The Indian External Affairs Ministry immediately termed the decision “unfortunate” and tried to wash its hands of the controversy that led to the cancellation of the meeting by saying that it “did not set any preconditions”.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk