News
Thursday, June 23, 2011
India, Pakistan aim to nudge peace process forward
ISLAMABAD: Top diplomats from India and Pakistan meet today (Thursday) to nudge forward their peace process, an important safety valve which the United States hopes will help stabilise the region as it prepares to withdraw troops from Afghanistan. But after many false starts, hopes were being kept deliberately low for the two days of talks between Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and her Pakistani counterpart, Salman Bashir in Islamabad. “We have realistic expectations,” an Indian government source said. “We should not expect quick and dramatic resolutions.” With the India-Pakistan rivalry often spilling into Afghanistan, the United States and its allies are hoping the peace process will gather pace in tandem with plans to gradually withdraw western troops ahead of a 2014 deadline. During the talks, the foreign secretaries will discuss Kashmir. Pakistan and India resumed a formal peace process in February, broken off after the November 2008 attack on Mumbai which killed 166 people. Progress has been incremental in talks which have included meetings between defence, interior and trade secretaries and a visit by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani to India to watch an India-Pakistan cricket match with his counterpart Manmohan Singh. reuters
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk