News
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Pakistan offers to move artillery from LoC* Two countries extend validity of nuclear accidental risk agreement for another five years
Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has proposed moving heavy artillery away from the Line of Control (LoC), the Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday. “Pakistan has proposed to India to move 120-millimetre guns some 30 kilometres away from the LoC,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abdul Basit said.
The proposal was made during talks between Pakistani and Indian experts in Islamabad on confidence building measures (CBM) between the two countries. “The move would help reduce casualties on both sides,” Basit added.
Pakistan and India also agreed to extend the validity of the “Agreement on Reducing the Risk from Accidents Relating to Nuclear Weapons” for another five years and would recommended their respective foreign secretaries to move in this direction.
The significant agreement reached between the two countries during the sixth round of the expert level talks on nuclear CBMs held in Islamabad.
During the talks, the Pakistani side was led by Munwar Saeed Bhatti, an additional secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Indian delegation was headed by DB Venkatesh Varma, a joint secretary at the Ministry of External Affairs.
The sixth round of talks on nuclear CBMs was in pursuance to the agreement between the foreign ministers of both the countries, who met in New Dehli on July 27.
The talks also signified the first formal interaction between the two countries after Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh met on the sidelines of the SAARC summit in Maldives last month.
According to a joint statement released by the Foreign Ministry, the talks between the two sides were held in a cordial and constructive atmosphere.
Both sides reviewed the implementation and strengthening of existing CBMs in the framework of Lahore MoU and agreed to explore possibilities for mutually acceptable additional CBMs.
According to the joint statement, both sides will report the progress in talks to their respective foreign secretariesCourtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk