Monday, January 30 2006 11:02 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan met here today (Jan 17, 2006), beginning the third round of Composite Dialogue.

"New ideas and proposals" form part of the discussion, which will focus on review of the progress made in the peace process.

During the two-day talks, Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran will convey to his Pakistani counterpart Riaz Mohammad Khan India's concerns over continued cross-border terrorism and non-fulfilment of commitment by Islamabad to end it.

New Delhi feels that unabated cross-border terrorism would threaten the ongoing peace process.

The talks will focus specifically on Jammu and Kashmir and peace and security, including confidence-building measures.

The Foreign Secretaries will also finalise the schedule of the meetings on the other six subjects of the Composite Dialogue; Siachen, Sir Creek, Tulbul Navigation Project, terrorism and drug trafficking, economic and commercial cooperation and promotion of friendly exchanges.

During their talks on J and K, the Foreign Secretaries will assess the progress of CBMs across the LoC and finalise dates for a technical-level meeting to discuss modalities for outstanding decisions such as Poonch-Rawalakot bus service, movement of trucks along Srinagar-Muzaffarabad route, meeting points for relatives and allowing pilgrims across the LoC.

The meeting will review and assess the decisions taken by the expert-level groups on nuclear and conventional CBMs.

Saran and Khan will also finalise dates for the meeting of the technical-level working groups of the Joint Commission, the Foreign Secretaries' review meeting of the current round of the Composite Dialogue to be followed by the plenary session of the Joint Commission and the review meeting by the Foreign Ministers of the two countries.

Discussions are also expected on issues on which decisions have been taken and action is pending, like opening of Consulates in Mumbai and Karachi and operationalisation of Munnabao-Khokrapar rail link.

Two rounds of the Composite Dialogue Process have already been held in which Kashmir issue was discussed by Foreign Secretaries along with Peace and Security and CBMs.

The composite dialogue process began after initiation of peace process in 2004 and both sides made progress in many areas, including Kashmir. The two nations at present run a fortnightly bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad and opened five LoC points after October 8 earthquake in the Kashmir region.