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"Noticeable progress" in Indo-Pak dialogue; prisoner case gets moving

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

New Delhi, Aug 26 -- Ahead of the Indo-Pak Foreign Secretary-level talks, India today said there has been "noticeable progress" in the Composite Dialogue process and it will need to be carried forward to address specific important issues, reports PTI.

Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran, who will be undertaking a three-day visit to Pakistan from October 31 for talks with his counterpart Riaz Muhammad Khan on the Composite Dialogue process, said it has been "quite useful" and that "there has been noticeable progress" in some areas.

Asked about reports in Pakistani media that further talks could be held under the aegis of a Indo-Pak Joint Commission, Saran said the mandate of any such body would have to be discussed.

He noted that the Joint Commission in the 1980s related to economic and trade issues as also on promoting people-people contacts.

The Composite Dialogue process has been looking at specific issues like Siachen, Sir Creek, terrorism, narcotics trafficking.

Saran said it was not clear whether all these could be subsumed in the Joint Commission having a new role.

In the meanwhile the issue of an alleged Indian spy in Pakistani custody awarded death sentence for his reported involvement in bomb blasts in 1990 has acquired a new angle as India today said that there was no proposal for exchange of prisoners for his release.

"We have not talked about exchange of prisoners in Sarabjit's case," Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran told reporters when asked whether New Delhi was considering any such move.

Saran confirmed that Pakistan has agreed to provide consular access to Sarabjit. During a meeting with Pakistan High Commissioner Aziz Ahmad Khan and his deputy Munawar Saeed Bhatti at the foreign office here yesterday, External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh had said this was a "humanitarian" issue and that there was a strong public sentiment in the country for sparing his life.

India's High Commissioner in Islamabad Shiv Shankar Menon had taken up the matter with Pakistan Foreign Secretary Riaz Muhammad Khan on Wednesday.

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