Islamabad: The two-day Foreign Secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan, scheduled to take place in Islamabad on December 23-24 to kick start the second round of Composite Dialogue process, have been put off to December 27-28, an official announcement said today (Dec 1, 2004).

The rescheduling of the dates was done at the request of the Indian Government, a Pakistan Foreign Ministry statement said.

Spotlight: Kashmir is Not Negotiable

Besides reviewing the progress in the talks on various issues, the Foreign Secretaries would discuss Peace and Security, CBMs (Confidence Building Measures) and Jammu and Kashmir issue.

They would also fix schedule for officials-level talks on issues like Siachen, Wullar Barrage, Sir Creek, Terrorism and Drug Trafficking, Economic and Commercial Cooperation and Promotion of Friendly Exchanges on various fields.

Meanwhile, Railway officials of the two countries would meet tomorrow (Dec 2, 2004) to discuss resumption of rail link between Kokharapar and Munabao, connecting Rajasthan and Sindh province of Pakistan.

The two countries had earlier discussed a proposal to run a bus service between Kokhrapar and Munabao, but later shifted to the idea of a rail link which, External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh recently said, was likely to begin on October 2 next year.

The rail talks will be followed by parleys between Coast Guard officials of the two countries on December 3-4 in New Delhi to discuss MoU to establish direct communication links between the two sides.

Also officials of the two countries will meet in New Delhi on Dec 7-8 to resolve differences over the modalities to run the bus service between Srinagar and Muzafarabad. Pakistan opposes use of passport and visas for passengers to travel by bus and wants the travellers to use identification certificates provided by local officials.

The bus-talks will be followed by separate expert-level meetings on nuclear and conventional CBMs from December 14 to 16 in Islamabad.

Also, the officials of the two countries are scheduled to conduct joint survey of boundary pillars in the Sir Creek Area on Dec 14-15.